


The After

by AdaraLove



Category: Princess Tutu
Genre: F/M, Gen, Minor Character Death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-06-25
Updated: 2013-07-17
Packaged: 2017-12-16 04:15:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 33,309
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/857661
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AdaraLove/pseuds/AdaraLove
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Duck has been turned back into a human and is living with Fakir and there makeshift family until an unfortunate death shakes the family to its core. Duck is left trying to pick up the pieces, while innocent Uzura tries to understand the meaning of death.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Grief

**Author's Note:**

> Hello everyone, this a an old story of mine that I'm going to try and revision and post again. I hope that you guys will enjoy reading it! It might take me a while to edit this story and post it, though, so if you are interested and reading the rest of it right away, I do have a fanfiction account on fanfiction.net under the same name =) Anyway, I just want to warn everyone again that there is a minor character death in this fic, and that most of the funeral process within this story along with some explanations given later, fall under Christianity views and customs. I try not to mention it too much, because not many people like having a religion thrown on them when their reading, but if that makes you uncomfortable, then I'm sorry. Believe me, it's not mentioned much, though =) 
> 
> Anyway, this is my first fic that I'm posting on this website, so forgive me if I don't have everything figured out on how to post all of this correctly. If you do see that my tags, the rating, or anything similar to that isn't quite correct, don't hesitate to tell me so that I can fix it =) With that, I hope you guys enjoy =)

_“He’s really gone.”_   The young red-headed girl told herself repeatedly within the depths of her mind.  She still couldn’t believe what had transpired just a few days ago. She stared at the subject of her thoughts, who was peacefully lain out in a rich mahogany coffin near the front of the room.  Seeing him lying there, his eyes closed, his skin more pale then the moon, brought fresh tears to the girl’s bright blue eyes.  _“He was still young, and he had many years yet to live, but this…”_ she couldn’t continue her thoughts _._  She tried her hardest to suppress the new onslaught of tears that threatened to consume her.

The young, beautiful girl was non-other than Duck, wearing a simple, yet elegant, white dress.  Her hair was let down for once out of its usual long braid, but the top most portion of her hair was braided and crowned around the top of her head to make her look more formal for the sad occasion.  If someone were to look at her now, they wouldn’t have believed that, three years ago, she was not a girl but a regular average duck.  Well, as average as any duck would be if she didn’t have the heart of a human girl.

Duck had once been the beautiful and mysterious Princess Tutu, who had saved Gold Crown Town from a powerful and nasty raven, which had threatened to turn the whole town into crows and devour the Prince’s heart.  She didn’t defeat him alone however. The actual Prince from the story, Mytho, along with his chosen princess, Rue, and the ever noble night-turned-writer, Fakir, helped Duck to vanquish the evil bird.  But that was three years ago. After the raven’s defeat, Duck had turned back into a duck. 

A smile slowly formed on the sad girl’s lips as she remembered the few months she had been a duck.  She remembered being quite unhappy about her situation because, one, no one seemed to remember her, save the people who were involved with the Raven’s defeat, and two, she practically lost all sense of communication with her knight, Fakir. 

They could communicate on a certain level, though. Body language and reading each other’s eyes were duck’s ways of communicating with her friend, but it got tiresome after awhile.  Despite the communication problems though, Fakir kept his promise and stayed by her side.  He had even let her live with him at Charon’s house.  They had to explain the situation to Charon, since he had forgotten who she was (She remembered feeling very sad about that), but after jogging his memory, Charon welcomed Duck into his home just like she was his own daughter, albeit a duck. 

It was later that year, Christmas Eve to be exact, when Fakir made it so Duck could turn back into the girl she wished so hard to be.  Duck’s smile finally reached her eyes as she reminisced. 

Fakir had spent most of the month locked up in his room working on a new story.  She remembered being frustrated with him, because he wouldn’t let her read it like she usually did when he wrote his stories for Gold Crown Town.  She huffed and looked the other way when the young man came down for dinner in the later evenings, voicing her discontent with him.  Her annoyance with him changed when he gave the story to her as a present on Christmas Eve, though.  The story was about a duck with the heart of a human girl who wished to be human once more, and that, by reading that magical story, her dreams would be fulfilled. 

That was the shortened version of it, of course, Duck mused, _“It sounded more fairytale-esqe and magical when I read it.”_   Never the less, Duck turned back into the girl she once was, and it actually looked like she had aged by a couple months by the longer length of her hair, like she was never a duck to begin with. 

After a wonderful Christmas, Duck enrolled back into Gold Crown Academy in the ballet department, and lived in the dorms again along with her re-acquainted friends, Pique and Lilie.  Still, that was three years ago.  She was on her last year now at Gold Crown Academy and Fakir was going to Gold Crown University on the other side of town; majoring in English.  Charon was the one who paid for both Fakir and Duck’s schooling, so when Fakir started to attend college, the poor old blacksmith couldn’t make the cut on the knight’s tuition bills.  This resulted in Fakir deciding to publish the stories he wrote for Gold Crown Town.  Fakir was an instant success and had a huge following for his short fairytale stories that, unlike his ancestor Drosselmeyer’s stories, ended happily.  For the most part, the four, including the cute puppet with a heart, Uzura (who had mysteriously reappeared one day), lived happily in the black smith shop like one big happy family. That is, until Charon’s heart attack.

The fatal incident was startling and abrupt.  The four of them had just sat down for dinner last weekend for their weekly get together, when Charon cried out and clutched his chest directly over his heart.  He had collapsed shortly after.  Fakir, Duck, and Uzura had been shocked from the outcry, and had wondered what was wrong.  The couple seconds that it took to get their bearings on the situation and rush to the fallen man’s side was long enough for the old man to cease consciousness.  He died shortly later in Fakir’s arms.

The recent memories were enough to snap Duck out of her reverie. She scanned the room for the knight of her thoughts.  Her eyes finally came to rest on him not too far off from her.  He was to her left and all the way across the room with his head bowed, arms crossed, and not looking at the coffin that his “father” forever rested in.  It broke Duck’s heart to see him like that.  She remembered Fakir had been so shocked by Charon’s sudden death, that he had secluded himself from Duck and Uzura, and had stopped eating.  The girls finally got him to eat two days later, but he still didn’t talk and stayed as far away from his living loved ones as much as possible.  His secluded behavior wasn’t what scared Duck the most, though.  The fact that she hadn’t seen, nor heard him cry over his foster father’s death frightened her to unknown levels. 

 _“He shouldn’t keep his feelings in like that; he’ll keep deteriorating from the inside until he breaks.”_ The former duck thought morosely as she stared at the subject of her thoughts from across the room.

_“Fakir…”_

_“_ He looks like he’s wilting away, doesn’t he?”  A soft voice spoke sadly, retching Duck from her thoughts.

“That voice!” She exclaimed out loud, turning around faster then she thought was humanly possible to verify the voice she hadn’t heard in three years.  “Mytho!” She cried in surprise as she flung her arms around the prince’s neck and hugged him with all her strength.

The duck-girls actions stirred laughter from deep within the princess being, “It’s nice to see you again too, Duck,” he chuckled.

“It’s been so long Mytho, and for us to meet up again under these circumstances…”  Duck replied softly, relinquishing her hold from the prince’s neck and looking down dejectedly.

“Yes.  It is rather unfortunate that we meet because of this,” Prince Mytho sighed, his voice filled to the brim with grief. 

The tone of his voice was enough for Duck to look up so that their eye’s finally met.  For one small moment, they shared their sadness for the departed blacksmith in silent eye contact, until another person that Duck hadn’t seen for three years walked up to the silent grievers.

“I’ve missed you so much, Duck,” the feminine voice said softly.

“Oh, Rue!” Duck cried as she responded in a similar way as she did to Mytho, but this time, with more desperation in her voice. 

Rue gathered the girl into her arms like a mother would to a crying child, and just as softly as before, replied, “I’m so sorry for your loss Duck.  I didn’t know Charon at all myself, but Mytho told me so much about him that it felt like I had lost a father figure as well.”

Those words, coming from Rue, meant a lot to Duck.  Rue had been kidnapped from her real parents when she was just a baby by The Raven, and had been misleadingly brought up by the evil thing as well.  For her to talk like Charon was her own father made Duck feel a sibling like bond forging as the girls continued to hug.  The girls didn’t have long to bond, though, as yet another person entered the praying room.

“Is that you, Rue?!” The new voice exclaimed in shock.

The two girls discontinued their hug to look for the source of this new voice.  What they found was the bespectacled Autor, in funeral garb, staring at Rue like he had never saw a woman before.

“Hello…Autor wasn’t it?” The raven princess asked.  She scrunched up her face as if she was trying to remember where she had seen the man before.

“Wow, you actually remembered my name!”  The knowledgeable young man stood aghast.  “It’s been so long since we’ve seen each other, and back then, we only met once,” he continued.  His eyes softened as he gazed at the girl he immediately fell in love with all those years ago.

“Well, you definitely…” Rue started, trying to find the words that would best describe their encounter. “…made an impression on me,” she stated truthfully.  After all, it wasn’t everyday she met a random person on the street, acted like she was coming on to him to feed his heart to a raven,  then have him truly admit that he was in love with her under the whole span of an hour.

“I did?!” Autor gasped, his eyes widening in excitement; it was obvious he still had feelings for the young brunette, even though he knew she was already happily married.

“It’s nice to see you again, Autor,” Mytho interrupted as politely as any Prince would, walking up beside his princess and putting his arm around her waist protectively. “But do you mind me asking what you’re doing here?”

At the prince’s confrontation, Duck noticed Mythos eyes seemed to be slightly narrowed in confusion.  She wasn’t sure if it was because of Autor’s random appearance that confused him, or if it was because of Rue’s inclination that the boy had made an impression on her.  The swan prince had no idea of their meeting before after all. Or maybe his confusion was coming from his first ever feelings of jealousy, because of Autor failing to hide his true feelings for his princess.  All in all, Duck felt badly for the slightly confused Mytho, and silently gave her support to him with eyes full of determination.

While Duck was focused on Mytho, Autor was getting over the shock of Mytho appearing out of nowhere like that, (In actuality, Mytho was beside Rue the whole time. Autor had just failed to notice him).  Once the book fanatic calmed himself down from his slight fright, he looked Mytho in the eyes, sending silent signals of pompousness to the prince.

“Well, if you must know, Fakir has been staying with me ever since Charon’s unfortunate accident last weekend, and I’m here to give him my support,” Autor replied snootily, pushing his glasses up in a knowledgeable act just to show off.  “Besides, Fakir and I are distantly related to begin with, and as seeing that Charon was his uncle, and therefore the reason Fakir lived with him in the first place after his parents’ death, I’m also distantly related to him as well.  As you can see, I have a right to be here,” The musician explained while glaring at Mytho accusingly, waiting for the prince to dismiss his claim for being at the funeral home.

“Oh!” Mytho said in surprise.  The prince forgot his prior hostility towards Autor and graced the pianist with a welcoming smile.  “I had no idea you and Fakir were related.  So in a sense, that almost makes us related, too, since Charon fostered me as well.”

“I…suppose…” Autor grunted with slight disgust, not sure if he wanted to consider the man who stole the girl he loved his relative.

There was an awkward silence after that as Mytho and Autor stared each other down.  Well, it was more along the lines of Autor trying to stare Mytho down, while Mytho stared back serenely. Rue shook her head in exasperation while the two boys tried to one-up the other through sight alone. 

Feeling the tension rising in the already tense funeral home, Duck scanned the area for a distraction.  Luckily for her, she found one immediately, because, walking towards the group right then was Raetsel, another of Charon’s foster children, along with her new husband.  Duck hadn’t seen Fakir’s step-sister since her wedding two and a half years ago.  Raetsel’s appearance hadn’t changed much since then. She still had pretty tan skin, and long brown hair in a shoulder ponytail.  The only noticeable difference about her was the ever protruding bulge from her stomach region, which meant…

“Oh my gosh, Raetsel, your pregnant!” Were the first words that came out of Duck’s mouth as she ran over to the older woman and grabbed her hands.  “Congratulations!” The red-head practically quacked in happiness and giggled with excitement. Her outburst broke the tense atmosphere between the royals and the musician, who also looked at Raetsel in question.  Mytho’s eyes lit up once he saw his good friend, and rushed over to greet her; Rue and Autor following.

“It’s so nice seeing you again, Duck,” Raetsel smiled sweetly down at the red-headed girl, meaning every word that she said.  Her husband repeated what she said to Duck, too, but with a little more shyness. 

 _“Oh my, it’s been so long since I felt this happy,”_ the duck-girl thought as she looked between Raetsel, her husband, and Raetsel’s bulging stomach.  She hadn’t felt a stroke of happiness since Charon had passed.  That week had been the longest in her life with the sadness that followed Charon’s death, school work that still had to be done, and Fakir’s withdrawal…

Duck’s thoughts ended with her knight, her good mood quickly dissipating. She stopped giggling and stared over at the young man in question.

Raetsel noticed how quickly Duck’s mood changed and followed the young girls eyes to the lonely knight, who hadn’t moved once since the beginning, or acknowledged that anyone else was in the room with him, despite all the loud noise.  The older woman had to stop herself from crying out once she saw her brother-like figure. 

“He looks so…broken,” Raetsel whispered uncertainly, like she was trying to believe the words as they came out of her mouth.  She continued, the sadness never leaving her voice, “To see his parents die right in front of his eyes, and now for the same fate to happen to Charon…it must be reopening old wounds.” 

Duck’s head snapped back to face Raetsel so quickly that she would probably be sore for days.  “I hadn’t thought of that…” She whispered, astounded.  “This must be so painful for him. No wonder he’s avoiding me!”  She nearly cried out and hung her head in shame.  She had been angry and worried because of his behavior, but he had more reason than anybody else to be acting the way he was.  Sure, she felt horrible after Charon’s death. Uzura and Mytho had been upset, too, because they were his foster children as well.  Even Raetsel must have been completely upset over Charon’s death, because she once had stronger feelings for the man, and also considered him a father, but Fakir…

The emotions Duck was feeling at the moment were mind reeling. She never felt so many emotions bombard her at once.  Shame, regret, anger, sadness, along with realization and shock were among the many that plagued her as she mulled over this new information.

 _“I should have noticed this.  I shouldn’t have been angry at him!”_ she screamed over and over in her mind, beating herself up for her stupidity.  If it wasn’t for the gentle hand that soon rested on her shoulder, Duck would have spiraled into a self-pitying depression. 

“It’s okay, Duck,” Mytho whispered to her as he squeezed her shoulder in comfort.  “We should have all known why he was acting more upset than usual.”

“Yes, now that I think of it, he does seem a little more angsty than usual,” Autor duly noted.

Rue looked at the book wiz critically. “You just noticed this?  Haven’t you been living with him for the past week?” 

Autor blushed in embarrassment. “Well he kept to the guest room a lot, and told me to stay out of his way.”  Trying to save face, the musician mumbled, “I thought he would want to grieve after what happened, so I let him be. Sorry if I didn’t notice before.” 

“It doesn’t matter who just noticed his behavior. What truly matters is trying to bring him back,”  Raetsel spoke matter-of-factly.  “And I think the best person to do that is you, Duck.”

Duck looked up at Raetsel in surprise. “Me?”

“Yes, you.” Raetsel spoke as she smiled down at her.  “You’ve inspired him to change, Duck.   If he’s going to listen to anyone, it would probably be you.”

“But…he’s been avoiding me,” Duck replied dejectedly, her eyes downcast.

“That’s because he had places where he could hide away,” Raetsel added in.  “I’ve known him most of his life, so I know his patterns for hiding from his problems a little more than you do, but since he’s here, he has nowhere to hide.  He wouldn’t leave the prayer service; it would be too much of a disrespect towards Charon.”

“…Maybe you’re right,” Duck thought out loud after a minute of silence.  Then, with renewed vigor, she clenched her fists in determination.  “Alright, I’ll go talk with him!”  And with that, Duck marched off to the other side of the room to talk to Fakir.

“Well, maybe we should go visit Charon now,” Mytho said quietly after Duck’s departure as he looked down at his wife for confirmation.

Rue gazed back into her prince’s eyes.  “Yes, lets,” she said with determination, and the two walked down towards the casket.

“Let’s join them as well, Honey,” stated Raetsel’s husband.

Raetsel only nodded, showing that she heard her husband’s words, and walked with him towards the casket, fresh tears already clouding her eyes.  Autor didn’t want to feel stupid standing there all by himself, so he walked with them to the casket and looked on as the two couples grieved for a fallen father and friend.


	2. Child-like Innocence

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright guys, here's the second chapter. I really only have time to edit and upload these on my free days, so only expect updates about twice a week if you're interested in the story! This one has some Duck and Fakir interaction in it, and Uzura is introduced! I hope you guys enjoy! =)

Ever since the prayer service had started, Uzura had been quietly sitting in the back pew trying to figure out the situation surrounding her.  It had been a week since she last saw her creator Charon.  The most recent memory she had of him was of him screaming and clutching his heart.  That memory frightened her; she didn’t know what to make of it.  Then after that, Fakir took Charon’s body away and she hadn’t seen him since.

Now she looked over towards the casket where her creator/father lay and laid her eyes on him for the first time in a week. He looked like he was sleeping, she first noted in her child-like brain, but he didn’t make those funny noises he usually did when he was.  Uzura loved those funny noises; almost as much as she loved clutching his noise between her small hands when he was asleep and having him swat them away.  She would always giggle and continued until he woke up so he could start making breakfast. After all, Uzura was the household’s living alarm clock. 

Every morning as soon as the sunlight would hit her face in the guest bedroom where she slept, she would wake up immediately with a bright smile on her face and start beating her drum like crazy.  She’d do this while running down the halls and screaming, “Wakey, wakey-zura!!” for the whole world to hear.  Charon was a heavy sleeper, though, so she always had to resort to nearly suffocating the man to wake him up.

After concluding that Charon couldn’t be asleep, she continued to stare at him with an owl-like intensity.  Maybe he was sick?  He was rather pale looking, but that didn’t seem quite right.   He wouldn’t wake up either when she asked him, too, (she almost regretted that action because it made Duck cry for some reason, but it was way past dinner time and the man had to get up!), and even when Duck and her friends were making all that noise, he still wouldn’t stir.

Uzura crossed her arms in confusion.  Just what was going on?  And why was Fakir acting so weird and staying away from Duck and her?  He began acting that way after Charon collapsed. The knight-turned-storywriter stayed away for hours at a time after that, and then he just up and vanished! Uzura remembered Duck explaining to her that Fakir wanted some time alone and was sleeping over at Autor’s house.  Was he purposely staying away from Duck?! Away from Uzura?!  Weren’t they family?!  Weren’t Duck and him lovey-dovey?! (Ok, they hadn’t admitted their feelings to each other yet, much to her annoyance, but it was so obvious!)   Uzura just didn’t know what to think of the situation.  She would normally ask Fakir to answer her questions, but seeing as he was still avoiding her, and everyone else for that matter, she thought of the next best thing; Duck!

            Uzura jumped down from the pew and started walking towards the direction Duck was (in the middle of the aisle), in order to ask the girl her multiple questions.  That is, until Duck started marching over to Fakir towards the other side of the room.  Uzura watched in fascination as Duck made an attempt to talk to the grieving knight.  In order to get a better view, Uzura sat down in the middle pew just two pews away from where Fakir was leaning against the wall, and listened in.

\---------

            Duck rung her hands nervously together as she approached the knight she loved.  What was she going to say?  What could she say to make him talk to her?  She could barely make the boy even look at her! The young girl gave an audible sigh once she arrived at her destination.  She noted how Fakir didn’t even twitch from the noise she gave, even though she was in such close proximity to him.  Duck looked up at him forlornly, almost feeling the depression that emanated from the boy.  Gathering her courage, she brought herself to speak.

            “Fakir…?” She asked tentatively, berating herself for sounding so meek. 

Unsurprisingly, Fakir didn’t react. 

Duck brought herself to ask again uncertainly.  “Fakir…can we talk?” 

Again, nothing. 

Tears were welling up behind her eyes in agitation.   “Fakir…please…please answer me!” She cried.

Again, no response.

The tears cascaded down her face as she hid her eyes from him, giving up.  Maybe Raetsel wasn’t right; maybe he wouldn’t talk to her.

 _“No, I can’t think like that!  I mustn’t give up!”_ She thought with new resolve.  With this newfound courage, she eliminated the distance between her and her grieving friend and touched his shoulder in order to comfort him and gain his attention.    

The sudden touch was just the thing he needed, because the abrupt contact startled Fakir out of his guilt trip.  His emerald green eyes scanned the room in sudden fear at the touch, until his eyes noted the little hand on his shoulder.  Following the owners hand to their shoulder, then to their face, Fakir and Duck’s eyes met. 

The eye contact was met with silence as duck and knight stared into each other, Duck’s asking if he was alright, and Fakir’s wavering uncertainly. 

“Please stop avoiding me, Fakir,” Duck pleaded softly, breaking the silence.

“Duck…” he whispered, breaking their eye contact and looking away in shame. That was the first word she had heard from Fakir’s mouth in over a week.  Duck took this as a good sign and tried to continue breaking him out of his trance.

“I know how badly you feel about…Charon’s death,” she stated hesitantly, not sure if she should have mentioned it right off the bat.  “I know… how troubled you were over your parents’ death, and when…you know… _he_ died before you like they did… it must have been horrible for you to experience that again,” she noted just as hesitantly.

Upon hearing Duck mention Charon’s name and relating his death to his parents’, Fakir’s body gave in involuntary twitch.  She couldn’t have hit the nail more directly on the head.

“I don’t know how that must feel for you, and I’m sure I’ll never fully understand the pain you’re going through right now…”

“You’re right…you don’t.  So how about you stay out of my business,” Fakir interrupted her forcefully, still looking away.  The lone knight hated talking to her like that, but he just wanted to be left alone with his memories and his mistakes.  He didn’t want to drag her into his mess as well.

            Duck was shocked by his outburst, but she stomped her foot and stood her ground.  He was talking now, so there was no backing out.

            “No, I won’t.  Not when you’re like this, Fakir!” She cried.  Despite her determination to keep her game face on, new tears threatened to spill behind her sapphire eyes.  “Uzura, the rest of our friends, and I are sad about Charon, too.  He was the only father I ever had!”  She exclaimed in a slightly higher tone.   Noticing that her voice was starting to break from emotion and frustration, the tears finally started to spill down her cheeks.  “I refuse to let you go through this alone, Fakir!  I refuse to have you push the people you love away because of this, and I refuse to let you keep these feelings bottled up inside you anymore!  I won’t sit back and watch you destroy yourself, Fakir!”  She practically screamed in desperation as tears ran down her face like waterfalls.

            Fakir stared at the hysterical girl in shock.  He never would have expected her to show these kinds of emotions to him, and with such intensity.  He took one sincere look into her aquatic blue eyes and almost ran away from the girl in shame.  What truly gave him the right to hurt his friends in this way?  What gave him the right to hurt _her_ in this way?  He swiftly looked away from her, his face the perfect picture of self-loathing.  “I’m so sorry, Duck…”

            Shocked by his apology, Ducks tears found their end.  She looked at him then, taking in his self-loathing appearance.  How she wanted to take that pain away.  Fakir had been through enough; he shouldn’t have to feel any more pain!  With those thoughts in mind, Duck stepped closer to Fakir and placed her hand on his cheek.  Moving his head so she could look into those green eyes she loved so much, she spoke to him, “Don’t be sorry.  Just be here for Charon…for your friends…for me.”

            She spoke with such intensity in her eyes and words that Fakir couldn’t help but be mesmerized.  His green eyes bore into her blue ones desperately, looking for an escape (if there was an escape) from the depression he had set upon himself.

            Gazing just as intently back, Duck whispered these next words to her desperate knight, “Don’t hold it all back anymore, Fakir, let it all out, let the grief wash away and come back to me.”

            He couldn’t deny her or himself any longer, and with that he brought his head to Duck’s shoulder, and cried.


	3. Questions Brought to Light

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright guys, here's the edited third chapter. This chapter will contain some of those Christian beliefs I was talking about, so if that makes you uncomfortable, then don't read. This was practically the only way I could think of describing what death is to a child, but that's just because of my own background and religious beliefs. I know there are other ways, but this way made the most sense to me, in all honesty. With that said, I hope you guys enjoy the chapter!

“Ohhhhh!” Uzura gasped lightly at the event unfolding before her. She was still sitting in the pew a couple feet away from the troubled couple when she saw Fakir start to break down. The puppet never saw Fakir act in such a way before. She watched in fascination as she picked up the next part of the duck and knights’ conversation.

“Charon…he’s…he’s really…” Fakir choked out between sobs, the pain for the man that took care of him most of his life along with countless others, began to finally find its way out.

Duck smiled slightly in relief for Fakir letting the grief out of his system as new tears started to spill from her own eyes. She stroked the knight’s midnight-green hair comfortingly as she tried to sooth him with her words, “It’s alright Fakir, I miss him, too.”

Uzura was confused.

“ _Why are they talking about Charon like he’s gone-zura? Isn’t he laying over there in that bed-zura?_ ” To verify that she was right, she looked back towards the coffin to see Charon ‘sleeping’ peacefully within the woody confines, but what shocked her the most was that the family and friends now surrounding the coffin were also crying. They were looking down at Charon with tears in their eyes. Why were they crying over him? Charon would probably wake up soon, so why were they crying? The once-puppet-of-Drosselmeyer continued to goggle at the crying group with child-like innocence; not fully understanding the true meaning of death.

She looked over again towards the crying Duck and Fakir, the people she considered siblings and the closest people to her, and decided against asking them to answer her numerous questions. She scanned the other group again, her mind set on achieving answers. She looked through the crowd for people who weren’t crying, so that she wouldn’t bother the ones who were. Raetsel’s husband was holding onto his wife who was crying on his shoulder; he wasn’t crying. Uzura didn’t know him, though, so she didn’t know if the guy could actually answer her questions. For all she knew, he could be a complete idiot! Her eyes then scanned over the next couple, Mytho and Rue. She knew them, and they were smart to boot! But Mytho’s shoulders were shaking, indicating that he was overwhelmed with sadness, and Rue looked like she was busy trying to console him. Uzura decided her last chance for answers lay with the weird boy with glasses that talked a lot. Luckily for her, Autor hardly knew Charon, so couldn’t really cry for him.

Uzura jumped off the pew and waddled over to the unsuspecting researcher, ready to ask questions. Upon her arrival, the puppet grabbed the material on Autor’s pant leg and gave it a tug. The bespectacled musician looked down in the direction of the tug and was met with the innocent eyes of a questioning child.

“Huh? Are you that weird puppet girl that follows Fakir around?” The quizzical nerd asked.

“Yep! That’s me-zura!” Uzura replied with a smile, not catching the insult in the boy’s question. “Can I ask you something-zura?”

The boy’s curiosity piqued at the question. Always willing to answer a question with his divine knowledge, Autor didn’t hesitate to accept. “And what would your question be?”  
Excitement flowed through Uzura’s veins (or lack thereof), for her questions where finally going to be answered. “Why is everyone crying-zura? Charon’s just asleep isn’t he? Or is he sick-zura?” Uzura asked a mile a minute.

Autor’s head tried to pick up the girl’s fast questions as best as he could. He paused, closing his eyes in concentration as he put his fist to his mouth in thought, making sure he heard the girl right. Once he was sure that Uzura spouted her naiveté about the situation, his next thoughts went into how to answer those questions. He was speaking to a little kid in a sense, so he had to be careful how he worded his answer.

“Well…” He started off, gaining Uzura’s attention back because he took so long to respond (a minute and a half). “Depending on your view of religion, there are many reasons as to why these friends of yours are crying. They’re crying because Charon is dead and has gone on to live in the after-life. Now, like I said, the thought of the after-life depends fully on your religious beliefs. There are many people who believe that once you die you never live again, and then there are other people that believe there is a place we go once we die so we can live again after death. Then there are still others that believe we are born again as something else once our spirits leave our bodies. So all in all, I’m not sure if I can really answer your question unless I know your religious beliefs. So what do you believe in?”

Uzura stared at the strange bespectacled man, blinking up at him in complete confusion. “Huh-zura?” She asked, tilting her head to the side cutely.  
Autor sighed at the girl’s lack of intelligence. What he had said obviously went way over her head. “ _Settle down Autor, she’s just a kid. How can she even possibly start to comprehend the meaning of religion and death?_ ” He berated himself internally. With a pause to clear his head, Autor looked back down at Uzura. “Maybe you asked the wrong person for this question.” He stated begrudgingly, not wanting to admit his failure to bestow knowledge onto a toddler. “Maybe you should ask someone else who has the time to actually talk to a little kid. I’m late for my piano practice anyway, so I’ll be taking my leave.” And, with that, Autor ended the conversation and walked away. “See you at the burial tomorrow,” were the last words he spoke before shutting the viewing room doors behind him.

Uzura stared at the sliding doors in indignation. “What a meany-zura! He didn’t even answer my questions-zura!” All that was left now was to ask someone else. One thing was for sure, though, she wouldn’t be asking that Mean Glasses Guy anymore questions in the future!

Uzura glanced around the room again. She still wanted to give Duck and Fakir some time to be alone (“ _Maybe they’ll get lovey-dovey-zura!!_ ”), and looked for the next closest person to her. Her eyes fell on the beautiful raven princess. Out of the rest of the people in the room, she had talked to Rue at least once, even though she remembered Rue telling her to “go away”. Anyway, she seemed interesting enough, so with no options left to her, she strutted up to the princess and tugged on her ebony funeral dress.

“Can I ask you a question-zura?” The little drummer asked upfront.

Once she felt the tug and looked down to where the tug originated, Rue was surprised to see little Uzura asking her a question. She looked uncertainly between the little girl and her husband, who was still rather upset. Mytho looked backed at his wife questioningly.

“It’s really important-zura!” Uzura almost pleaded; she really wanted to know what was going on.  
Rue stared into Mytho’s auburn eyes, asking silently if he was ok with her leaving him for a while. Mytho reply was a small smile.

“I’ll be fine Rue. Go and talk to Uzura.”

Satisfied that her prince was alright with the situation, Rue glanced down at the puppet girl and gave her a warming smile. “Alright, should we go talk?”

Uzura nodded her head eagerly. While the puppet held on to the hem of Rue’s dress, the once-raven-girl led Uzura away from the mourners, so as not to disturb them. Once they were a respectable distance away, Rue knelt down to Uzura’s level and made eye contact with the little girl.

“Now, what is it that you wanted to ask me, Uzura?” The princess asked, giving Uzura her most warming smile.

As Uzura gazed up into Rue’s carmine eyes, the same eyes a mother would use when she looked at her child, she knew that she could ask Rue anything and that she had the patience to answer. “ _She’s very different from before-zura!_ ” The little girl mentally exclaimed, noticing how welcoming Rue’s eye’s and smile were in comparison to how they had been when Uzura had talked to her before.

“So, what is it, Uzura?” Rue asked again. She was genuinely curious about what the puppet would actually ask her.

At Rue’s undivided attention, Uzura finally asked the question she wanted so badly to understand, “Why is everyone crying-zura?! Charon’s going to wake up soon, so why is everyone so sad-zura?”

Rue’s eyes saddened at the questions. She never expected the girl puppet to actually ask her such things. “ _She doesn’t understand what death is. Should I try to explain it anyway? No, she’s just a kid!_ ” A million thoughts raced through Rue’s mind as she considered answering the girl puppet’s questions. Finally, her thoughts found the answer she was looking for. “ _She wants to know, therefore, she has the right to know._ ”

Gathering her wits about her, Rue began her journey to answering Uzura’s questions. The little puppet was staring up at Rue expectantly; her painted blue eyes ready to receive any knowledge the princess had to share. Surly Uzura would be able to understand once Rue explained the situation slowly and thoroughly?

“They’re sad because Charon is dead, Uzura,” Rue stated calmly, smiling softly as she opened the topic for discussion.

“That’s what that Meany Glasses Guy said-zura! But what is ‘dead’-zura?” Uzura exclaimed. Surly if both the Glasses Guy and Rue stated that Charon was ‘dead’, it had to be true, right?

_“So she talked to Autor before me, huh? That explains why she didn’t understand in the first place,”_ Rue chuckled mentally, berating Autor’s ability to handle children. She decided to start answering Uzura’s question when, suddenly, the puppet herself gasped in semi-understanding.

“Is being dead like being asleep-zura?” She asked in awe, her eyes growing larger at her own epiphany.

Rue gave out a small chuckle before replying, “Death is like sleeping, yes. You see, when we die our bodies go to sleep.”

“Like Sleeping Beauty-zura?!”

Rue had to restrain herself from chuckling again at the innocent remark. She had to try to keep this serious so that Uzura would fully understand. “Yes, but unlike Sleeping Beauty, nothing can wake a dead person up again.”

Uzura blinked, perplexed. Nothing could wake dead people up? “Not even loud noises?” She asked innocently as she pulled her drum to her front and grabbed her drum sticks, ready to test her question should the need arise.

Slightly alarmed, Rue quickly grabbed Uzura’s arms before she could beat her drum senselessly. “No, not even loud noises,” she spoke with an air of calm, hoping Uzura wouldn’t disturb the peace of the viewing room. Her tone seemed to work, because the puppet girl let her arms fall to her sides.

“Why-zura?” The wooden doll asked, not sure if she liked where this conversation was going.

Rue sighed. She had to tread extra carefully to make sure she wouldn’t upset the innocent girl too much. “When living things die…they leave their bodies to rest while their souls…”

“Souls-zura?”

With unwavering patience, the raven princess explained further, “Souls are the person within. In other words our souls are our hearts.” And with emphasis, Rue pointed at the wooden girl’s chest, right where her heart should be.

“Oh!” The girl gasped, her eyes widening with realization.

“Do you understand now, Uzura?”

“I think-zura…” She replied hesitantly. She mulled over what she just learned in her little noggin before summarizing what she heard. “So…Charon’s heart left him-zura?”

Rue smiled happily to Uzura, glad that she was following so far. “Yes.”

“So where did it go-zura?”

The princess paused to think for a second and then supplied the answer she thought would be easiest to understand. “There’s a place where people go when they die…”

“Where’s that-zura?!” Uzura interrupted again, amazed by thinking that such a place existed.

“Many people believe it’s in the sky. They call it, ‘Heaven’.”

If it was possible, this got the puppet girl even more excited. “Ooooh! What’s Heaven like-zura?!”

“…It’s a place…a place where you never feel pain, loneliness, or sorrow. Every day you wake up with joy and happiness in your heart.” Rue spoke whimsically, internally wishing with all her might that such a place was true. _“I hope I will find that place someday…”_

Rue’s reverie was broken by Uzura’s next comment. “That sounds like a good place-zura!” She stated happily. Maybe being dead wasn’t so bad.

“It is,” Rue replied with determination. A place like Heaven had to be true! Mytho believed in Heaven after all, so she hoped that Charon had found it; for both his and Mytho’s sake. “Charon has gone on to a better place where he’ll only feel happiness. And he won’t be lonely, either. His other family members who died before him will be there to meet him.”

“So he went to see the rest of his family-zura?”

“In a sense, yes. Do you understand now, Uzura?” Rue asked again, confident the puppet would reply positively.

Uzura brought her index finger up to her cheek in thought. “I think-zura…So Charon’s heart went to live in Heaven with his other family, who died and went to live in Heaven, too?”

Rue smiled in relief. “Yes. I believe you understand now.”

Sadly, for the new princess, Uzura wasn’t quiet done; she had a new question that needed to be answered. “But then why is everyone so sad-zura? Shouldn’t they be happy Charon’s in a better place-zura?”

Dark burgundy eyes widened in shock. She forgot that she actually hadn’t answered her friend’s first question. Rue bit her bottom lip hesitantly. Should she actually answer that question? If she did, would the little girl’s heart be able to cope? Noticing the determination in Uzura’s cobalt eyes, Rue realized she couldn’t walk away from the girl. Not until she answered the question. With a great sigh and saddened eyes, Rue looked directly into Uzura’s, ready to answer the final question.

“Uzura…” Another heavy sigh from the princess made Uzura even more determined to pay attention. “When a person dies and their heart leaves their body to live in Heaven…they leave their body behind to sleep… _forever_.” Rue ended heavily, wishing she didn’t have to tell this to a young, innocent girl.  
The girl in question seemed to be deep in thought, and still looked slightly questionable, so Rue added on to her answer. “In other words, Uzura, Charon’s heart has left his body for good to live in Heaven. That means we’ll never see him open his eyes again. We won’t hear him laugh, cry, or talk….He’s gone, Uzura. For as long as we live, we’ll never see Charon again…” Rue ended sadly, her eyes downcast.

There was a brief pause; the only sound in the room was of the mourners drying their tears. Rue looked back up at Uzura, wondering what her reaction would be.

Uzura stared back at the princess in shock. Her eyes had widened to epic proportions as the gears started to mesh together within the confines of her mind. “Do you mean…” She stated slowly, slightly afraid of what the answer would be. “Do you mean that…Charon won’t come back to the house again-zura?”

Rue shook her head sadly, her vibrant red eyes now dulled over with pity towards the puppet girl.

“And he won’t make breakfast for Fakir and me again-zura?”

Rue shook her head again.

At Rue’s last shake, Uzura’s eyes became more panicked. “He won’t push me on the swing anymore-zura! Or take me grocery shopping-zura!”

Another shake of the head was her answer. The meaning of ‘death’ was quickly beginning to make more sense to the little girl, but she didn’t like the sound of it.

“He won’t fix my drum when I break it anymore-zura?!” She nearly cried out, big drooping tears appearing at the edges of her eyes.

Rue was almost ready to break down and cry there and then. She hated herself for making the girl realize what was truly going on. This was something Uzura couldn’t fix no matter what she did.

Tears were now cascading down Uzura’a porcelain cheeks. She had to make absolutely sure that what she was hearing was correct. It couldn’t be true! Charon wouldn’t just leave her would he? She was his little girl. He told her that himself! “He won’t tuck me into bed and read me bedtime stories anymore-zura?!!!!” She screamed in agony. Her daddy couldn’t just leave her! He couldn’t!!!

Rue wept into her hands, unable to bring herself to look at the girl she had just hurt unimaginably. “I’m…so...sorry…Uzura” She gasped between sobs that shook her frame. “Charon’s not coming back.”

The tears ran down Uzura’s white cheeks faster than before once she realized her worst fears had come true. “No-zura…” she whispered to herself in shock as her tears stained her Dutch-styled dress. “No!” she screamed louder, clenching her fists at her sides, wanting to believe it wasn’t true. She continued to scream that one word over and over again, hoping her defiance would turn everything she learned around. But no matter how hard she tried to deny it, the truth was staring her in the face, and she couldn’t run away from it no matter how hard she tried. Her screams turned into wails of grief once she realized that Charon was truly gone and that she would never ever see him alive again. With one final scream to the heavens that had taken her father away from her, the little doll broke down onto Rue’s waiting shoulder.

She finally understood the true meaning of death.


	4. Forgiveness and Goodbyes

It was a beautiful day for the burial service, Duck noted, as she stood in the Gold Crown Town cemetery.  The sun was shining, birds were twittering in the trees and a slight breeze blew, giving the air a slightly refreshing quality.  Despite the day’s beauty however, it also gave Duck a surrealistic feeling.  How could the sun be shining or the birds be singing when this was the day she had to say goodbye to someone she cared for? 

The burial had been done and over with for about twenty minutes now.  The images of the shovels scooping dirt onto Charon’s closed casket, burying him into the earth for the rest of eternity, still buzzed around Duck’s mind like an angry bee.   Even though the burial service had ended, the people who all came to the prayer service the evening before still stayed; paying their final respects and saying their goodbyes to the departed blacksmith. 

Duck’s aqua-blue eyes scrunched up in concern, remembering how the prayer service had ended the previous night.  She remembered, (how could she not?!), Fakir holding her while he cried his grief away on her shoulder.  She had cried with him, feeling the knight’s pain, and her own, for Charon’s demise.  She recalled, despite the tears the two were shedding, feeling protected and whole in his arms.  Duck blushed at the very thought of it as she scanned her eyes around the grave yard, looking for her protective knight.

Fakir was standing not too far off from the reminiscing girl.  He was a couple feet ahead of her and was kneeling down by the headstone that carried Charon’s name in carved marble.  Duck stared sadly at the knight’s back, watching as Fakir said his final goodbyes to the blacksmith that had fathered him.  Despite the sadness she was feeling, though, Duck couldn’t help but smile.  Fakir was no longer letting his anger and sadness consume him.  She didn’t have to worry about Fakir anymore.  What she was more concerned about was the scene she had witnessed last night after her and Fakir had calmed down.

\---------

Like before, Duck continued her memory from where she had left off.  She and Fakir were holding each other as the last of the knight’s tears started to ebb away.  Duck longed for the moment to never end. She wanted to stay blissfully in her protector’s arms, unaware of the reality that Charon’s death had brought upon her. Reality wouldn’t be ignored, though; it made its way through her fantasies, despite her protests, and brought her reeling back to the dire situation at hand.  Duck fought back the tears that had threatened to surface again.  Why did dealing with death have to be so hard?  Luckily, Duck’s depressing thoughts were pushed to the side as she felt Fakir stir on her shoulder.

“Thank you, Duck,” he whispered softly to her once he had calmed down.  “Thank you for everything.”

Duck gave a small smile down at the young man in her arms.  She felt the gratitude in every word that came from the writer’s heart.  “Mmhm,” she softly murmured in reply to Fakir’s gratitude, finding that she was too overcome with emotion to effectively verbalize her appreciation for his kind words.

After her soft response, Fakir lifted his head from Duck’s shoulder and looked into her eyes.  “Duck?” He sighed questioningly; he wasn’t sure if he should say what was on his mind right then.  “I think…I need some time alone,” he whispered, uncertain on how she would take the news.

Upon hearing his last statement, Ducks eyes widened in fear. She pleaded with him to see reason, “Don’t tell me you’re going to seclude yourself again?!  Please, Fakir!  Don’t…” but her ramblings were cut short by Fakir placing a finger on her lips.

Duck choked back a startled quack as her face turned redder than her hair.  Fakir’s emerald-green eyes bore into hers as he tried to explain before she got too upset.  “I just need some time to prepare myself, Duck,” he uttered, speaking from his heart.  “I’m…I’m not quite ready to say goodbye to Charon; that much is obvious.  I… just need some time to prepare myself for tomorrow’s burial.  I’m sure Charon would want a proper goodbye from me.” 

Duck stared up into Fakir’s green depths as he removed his index from its resting place on her lips.  Duck searched his eyes frantically, making sure he wasn’t lying, but his words, and his eyes, held too much emotion; he had to be telling the truth.    Slowly, Duck’s aqua jewels flooded with understanding.  “Of course, Fakir, take your time,” she nodded with a smile.

Fakir smiled a true smile for the first time since Charon’s heart attack, happy that the girl understood.  The smile didn’t last long, though, as the silence of the viewing room was torn asunder by a heart-wrenching cry.  Startled, the knight and duck-girl turned immediately towards the origin of the wracking sobs and found Uzura crying her heart out onto Rue’s shoulder.

Duck remembered fear consuming her for the little girl’s well-being.  It was an hour or so after that, when Uzura had cried herself to sleep, that Duck and the rest of the remaining viewers had their own questions answered by one, very upset Rue. 

\---------

Duck shifted the focus of her thoughts between the raven princess and the little girl that had been holding her hand throughout the whole burial.  She looked down at Uzura with saddened eyes.  The puppet hadn’t said a single word since yesterday, nor had she beaten on her drum, which was usually a daily occurrence for her.  That worried Duck to a great extent.  _“This isn’t like you, Uzura.”_

Duck knew what Uzura had learned yesterday from Rue, and she couldn’t help but feel bad for both of them.  Rue had beaten herself up for Uzura’s sadness.   The memory of the emotionally distraught princess surfaced to the top.  It was during Charon’s church service that morning when Rue had suddenly run up to her outside of the chapel.

\---------

“Why, Duck?!”  Rue begged with tear-stained eyes.  “Why do I hurt everyone I care about?! Why?! Why?! Why?!”  Her voice rose higher in pitch with each question she asked, while she shook the duck-girl’s shoulders with trembling hands.

Caught completely off guard, Duck frantically tried to calm the emotional princess down.  “It wasn’t your fault, Rue!  Uzura would have found out the truth anyway.  You know what she gets like when she’s determined!”

Rue stopped shaking and peered up at Duck through bleary eyes.  “But she isn’t talking anymore, and she looks so sad…”

“I know,” Duck said more calmly, putting her hands onto Rue’s shoulders for comfort.  “I’m worried about her to, Rue, but I’m sure Uzura doesn’t blame you.  I think she’s still just shocked about finding out.”

Rue angrily swatted Duck’s hands away.  “How could you possibly know what’s going through her mind?” Rue uttered darkly.  “She hasn’t talked to anyone since yesterday and that was because of me!” Not even waiting for Duck to answer her, she rushed past the doors that led into the chapel and past a very concerned Mytho, who had been looking for her.

“Rue…” The saddened duck whispered out as Mytho walked up to her.

“I’m sorry she took her frustration out on you, Duck,” the prince apologized quietly.  “Ever since yesterday her emotions have been so unstable that _I_ can’t even console her.”

Duck looked up towards the usually serene prince to note how broken up he was about not being able to help the girl he loved.  “I’m sorry, Mytho… but maybe the only person that can make her truly feel better is Uzura.”

“Maybe you’re right,”  Mytho confirmed after a moment of silence.  “Let’s go try to talk to her.”

It didn’t take the two long to find the green haired puppet.  She was sitting in a corner of the chapel, her head hanging down in misery.

“Uzura?” Duck asked hesitantly when she and Mytho made their way up to the broken puppet. “Are you mad at Rue?”

At hearing the question, the puppet showed the first signs of life since last night by looking at Duck questioningly.  Her painted blue eyes showed uncertainty at the question.

Taking note that the girl probably wasn’t going to speak anytime soon, Duck continued her little speech.  “You see, Uzura, Rue feels really bad because she thinks she made you cry last night.  She thinks that you hate her because of what she told you.”

The puppets eyes widened in surprise.  She didn’t expect Rue to feel bad at all.  She felt sad and angry about… _his_ death…but she wasn’t mad at Rue.  She was actually thankful for Rue telling her the truth.  The puppet’s painted eyes softened in sadness as she looked towards the raven princess across the room.  Rue was peering up at a glass stained window; tears running down her cheeks.  Unimaginable guilt crept into the little puppet’s heart for making a friend believe she was upset with her.  She had to make this right!  Rue shouldn’t feel bad about something that wasn’t true!  With those thoughts in mind, Uzura jumped up from her seated position on the floor and ran towards the crying princess.  She wrapped her tiny arms around the young woman’s leg and buried her face into her dress, hoping Rue would stop crying.

Mytho and Duck watched happily as the scene unfolded before them.  They saw Rue look down at the girl puppet in surprise.  Then, when the surprise had faded away, she hugged the little girl with all her might.

\--------

_“Since then, Rue has been less upset about the situation,”_ Duck thought as she looked towards the girl, who was standing next to Mytho, Raetsel, Raetsel’s husband, and Autor a few feet away in the cemetery.  _“But Uzura still has been awfully quiet since then.  She might have forgiven Rue, but she still hasn’t spoken a word.”_

Duck glanced down at Uzura in worry as the puppet stared blankly ahead of her towards Charon’s grave stone.  “What’s wrong, Uzura?” Duck asked, wanting to finally know what was on the little girl’s mind.

“…I miss him-zura…” Uzura mumbled quietly as she stared forlornly at Charon’s tombstone. 

Duck strangled a cry of pity that rose in her throat.  _“Poor, Uzura.  She’s gone through so much in just a short amount of time.”_

Taking in Duck’s silence, Uzura tightened her hold on her ‘sister’s’ hand and looked up at Duck with tears welling in her eyes.  “I never got to say goodbye-zura!” The puppet girl cried out as her tears started to fall.

Duck took the crying girl into her arms, trying to comfort her.  “I know, Uzura, that’s what the prayer and burial service were for.  This was the only way that we could say goodbye to Charon.”

Uzura glared at Duck in indignation.  “But Rue said that Charon’s heart wasn’t here anymore-zura!  She said he went to Heaven-zura!!”

The duck-who-turned-into-a girl just looked down at Uzura calmly.  “Yes, Rue was right about that. But she forgot to mention that Charon can look down from Heaven, so he can watch over us.”

Uzura’s tears dried up in surprise.  “You mean…he’s watching us right now-zura?”

“Yes, he’s watching us say our goodbyes to him until we can meet up with him again in the afterlife,” Duck said with a nod of confidence.  “He’ll always be watching over us until our day comes to join him, Uzura, so until then, I believe Charon wouldn’t want you to be sad anymore.”

After some thought, the puppet nodded in understanding, giving Duck confidence that everything would be fine again.  Little did the duck-girl know was that an even more frightening question began plaguing the little puppet’s mind.


	5. The Will

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright guys, here's the next chapter. It's a lot longer than the other ones, so I hope you guys don't mind! This chapter is a little more lighthearted then the other ones, too. When I wrote this story a long time ago, I thought a little breather from all the drama was needed lol. I hope you guys enjoy!

Uzura pushed away her frightened thoughts to the back of her mind when she felt Duck pull gently on her arm.

“Come on, Uzura, we have to go meet Charon’s lawyer now,” Duck said as she continued to pull Uzura away from the gravesite.

Uzura’s interest piqued upon hearing this.  “What’s a loy-yer-zura?” She asked, walking willingly along with Duck away from Charon’s buried body.

There was a moment of silence while Duck thought best on how to answer that question.  “A lawyer is a person who helps people when they’re in trouble.”

The two girls continued to walk out of the cemetery, following the other funeral goers through the black iron gates and into the cobbled streets of Gold Crown Town.  “Do you mean like Princess Tutu-zura?” Uzura piped up, trying her best to understand.

Duck giggled a little bit at the comparison, trying to imagine Charon’s lawyer in a tutu.  “Yeah, kind of like Princess Tutu, only more serious.  They help people who get in trouble with the law, and they’re really smart, too!” Duck exclaimed, her mind getting dizzy from just thinking about lawyer terminology.

Uzura blinked, perplexed.  “Does that mean that Charon got in trouble-zura?”

A quack of surprise was her answer, as Duck fumbled to get her wording right.  She was really happy that she couldn’t turn back into a duck because of all the hassle it would be to find water at the moment, but she still couldn’t quiet quit the habit of quacking like a duck when she was startled.  Flapping her arms like they were wings, Duck hurried to explain. “No, no, no, no!  Charon didn’t get into any trouble.  We’re just going to read his will!”

The blue-eyed puppet stared in confusion at the energetic girl.  She hadn’t seen Duck act this way since Charon had passed.  It gave her the calming feeling of normality once again as she smiled and beat her drum.  “Okay, so what’s a will-zura?”

Duck stopped flapping her arms like a lunatic, (people were starting to stare at her after all) and tried to think of the best way to explain.  “Um…basically a will is a person’s last wishes before they die.  They write down what they wish to give to the people they care about most and give it to their lawyer for safe keeping.” Then as an added bonus (because she really didn’t think Uzura would understand the legal system) she spouted off the last of her explanation with gusto.  “Then the lawyer magically gives the stuff to the people in the will, just like that!”

Uzura’s eyes widened in amazement.  “Ooooh!  Just like magic-zura?!”

Duck nodded her head vigorously, hoping she wouldn’t have to go further into explanation.

“So does that mean that Charon wants to give us his things-zura?  Is he doing that because he feels bad for leaving us-zura?”

Duck nodded yet again towards the little questioner.  “I guess you can think of it that way.  Charon wrote all of us down in his will to say thank you for being with him, so after his death we can have stuff to remember him by.”

“Oh!  Okie-dokie-zura!” Uzura laughed, understanding what they were a going to do now.

\---------

It didn’t take too long for the group to meet up with Charon’s lawyer.  The lawyer’s office was actually close by the cemetery, so the group agreed to meet with him an hour after the burial.  The young man, in his mid-thirties, was waiting for the group behind the two thick wooden doors of his office.  He had slicked-back black hair and was wearing an expensive looking suit.  Once all the members of the will had arrived, he asked them to take a seat around a long rectangular table (usually used for business meetings), and got down to business.

“I know you know why we are here today.” He stated slowly, taking in the faces of the victims of his client’s death.  “Charon sadly departed from us a week ago, and now that it’s after his funeral, he wished for me to read the contents of his will to you.  Most of you are related or somewhat his children, are you not?” He asked, looking around the table.  Once he received affirmative nods, he continued on with his business. 

“Ok, we shall start from the beginning, then,” he started with a cough to clear his throat.  The older man began reading the contents of the will, starting with Raetsel and her husband.  It was here that the rest of the family found out that Raetsel was 7 months pregnant. The lawyer declared that Charon wished to give her a baby shower gift he had bought for her for the surprise baby shower that the woman was throwing.

“You see,” Raetsel started, blushing with embarrassment from the gasps around the table. “I only told my husband and Charon about me being pregnant because I wanted it to be a surprise for all of you.  We were going to send out the baby shower invitations this week, but since Charon had passed on, I forgot all about them.” She said this with a weak smile. “I guess, since Charon knew about the baby shower, he must have bought me a present ahead of time.”

“Are we still invited?” Duck chirped up excitedly, with murmurs of agreement from the rest of the table (minus Autor, he didn’t even know Raetsel).

Raetsel gave a small laugh of gratitude for Duck’s enthusiasm.  “Of course.  It’s a month from now at our cottage the next town over.”

This comment was met with murmurs of excitement at the first good news the group had heard all week.  Then a cough startled them from their murmurings.

“I believe we should continue now, unless there are more surprises that need to be told.” Charon’s laywer glared sternly at the young people around the table, really wanting to finish his job so he could go home.  When he was met with cold silence, the lawyer started up again with the will.  “Besides the baby shower gift, he would like to bestow to you, Raetsel, some of his mother’s jewelry that he saved from her funeral.  He would wish to pass these down to you as he thought you would like them.  Now on to your husband, Charon would like to give him some new gardening tools he had purchased for his birthday.  He thought that since you two were talking about starting up a garden, you would find a good use for them.”

The lawyer stopped reading to look at the couple to his left to make sure they understood.  He was met with sad, but understanding nods as Raetsel and her husband accepted Charon’s gifts.

“Next on the agenda, is Mytho and Rue,” the man started up again, gaining the attention of the two royals to his right.  “For Mytho, Charon would like to give him most of his blacksmithing materials and weapons, seeing as your kingdom would find more use for it then Gold Crown Town would.  He also goes on to say that everything you left in your room is yours for the taking.” 

Mytho nodded his head seriously.

“Now, for Rue, Charon has decided that most of the antiques within the house are yours to keep.   He said with confidence that you would like them.”

Rue nodded her assent in slight shock, touched by the fact that Charon had remembered her commenting on her interest’s in antiques from the letter’s Mytho wrote to him while they were away. 

“Now for Autor,” the lawyer started again, directing his attention to the arrogant musician who sat to the right of Raetsel. The boy was still shocked that he was even there. He had never met Charon in his life, so it was kind of strange to be sitting in a conference room talking about the man’s will. “Charon wrote that he didn’t know you that well but that he had heard so much about you from Fakir.  So based on what he heard, Charon thought you would be the perfect candidate for wanting some of his old books.  He has a box full of them at his house, and he said that you can choose whichever ones you want.”

Autor nodded his head in a business-like manner to show his acceptance.

“Now,” stated the well-dressed lawyer. “It comes down to the last item of business; the ownership of the house.”

At that statement, all eyes focused on Fakir, who was sitting opposite to Charon’s lawyer at the other end of the table. Duck was sitting to his right with Uzura on her lap, and she too looked at the boy expectantly.  If Fakir seemed fazed by all of the attention, he certainly didn’t show it.  Deep down, he knew that he would gain ownership of the house, since he was the one that had lived with Charon the longest. Even while he was attending college, he had lived with the blacksmith to save some money, so it was only natural that he would receive the house. 

“Well, it seems everyone already knows who that is,” The lawyer chuckled slightly.  “Yes, Charon has written that the main owner of the house, with the rest of the possessions within that weren’t given away, are to be rewarded to you, Fakir.”

Fakir accepted Charon’s gift with a grim scowl, not looking forward to owning the house that held so many memories of him and his departed father.

Duck watched Fakir anxiously.  She worried what his reaction would be to Charon’s gift, and wasn’t surprised when she saw his trademark scowl appear on his face.  Duck sighed sadly.  That house was Charon’s life. He had worked there and he had lived there, so to go back to that house and not see him walking around would be very weird, not to mention a grim reminder. 

“What about Duck and Uzura?” Fakir glowered while crossing his arms, directing his question to the lawyer.  “You asked them to come here as well, but you haven’t told them what Charon wants to give them yet.”

Duck’s eyes widened with surprise as she gave her attention to the lawyer across from her.  She completely forgot that he hadn’t specified what she would get yet.  The puppet sitting in her lap also directed her attention to the man, her face the perfect picture of child-like wonder.

“Ah! You see I was just about to get to that,” the lawyer smiled with anticipation.  He looked like a gossiping house-wife that had just found out a juicy story about her neighbors (or from Duck’s point of view; Lilie).  The others around the table became a little unsettled at the lawyer’s abrupt change of behavior.  They wondered if they really wanted to know what the man had to say.

“You see, Charon has talked to me personally about the ownership of the house,” the lawyer continued with an ominous smile.  “He told me that he thought Uzura was too young to really be given anything…”  Uzura’s eyes began to water at Charon failing to give her a present. “He thought it was best if Uzura kept all her toys that he made for her, but that’s it.  He was more worried about her wellbeing then gifts for her.” 

That got Uzura’s attention.  She was glad she at least got to keep her toys, but what did the lawyer mean by her wellbeing?  The lawyer picked up on this silent question and continued his explanation.

“Uzura is still young and needs to be taken care of while she continues to live in that house.  Now, I know what you must be thinking, Fakir,” the lawyer stated, putting is hand up to stop the boy from protesting.  “You think that you can take care of Uzura just fine all by yourself, but the truth is that you can’t.  Charon has told me how engrossed you become when you write your stories, and how you stay locked up in your room for long periods of time because of that.  Now that just won’t do when a little child is involved!  So, to help with this situation, Charon has given co-ownership of the house to Duck to help take care of the house and Uzura while you work,” the older man stated with jubilation like he had just announced the winner for the Noble Peace Prize. 

Shocked silence engulfed the room as the group digested what the man happily announced.  The silence seemed to last for an eternity until Fakir slammed a fist onto the table.

“And just what do you mean by that?!”  The young knight choked out, a heavy blush evident on his face.  From what the lawyer had just stated, it almost sounded like Charon wanted Duck to be his house-wife!  The duck of his thoughts also had picked up on the statement’s undertone and was now averting her eyes from everyone in the room (who had also picked up what the lawyer was implying and were now smiling with amusement towards the embarrassed duo) while her face took on the appearance of a ripe tomato.

The lawyer found great amusement in the duck and knights’ reactions and laughed.  “Charon told me you two might react like that, so he wrote a letter to you, Fakir, for further explanation,” he chuckled out while his hand reached into his suit’s chest pocket for the aforementioned letter.  Once he had pulled the white envelope out, he slid it across the table towards the highly flustered knight. 

Fakir grabbed the letter immediately and stared down at the envelope addressed to him in Charon’s messy handwriting.  Seeing his father’s handwriting so soon after his funeral almost left Fakir in a state of shock; it was just too weird to think of the man writing a letter for this very occasion. If Fakir wasn’t in such a dire need for answer’s he would’ve continued to ogle the thing like it was an alien baby with two heads, so the knight shook his head to clear his messed up thoughts, tore open the envelope, and read the piece of paper within.

_Dear Fakir,_

_If you are reading this letter now, it must mean that I have moved on and am now watching over you from afar.  My health has been failing as of late. Feeling my time was drawing near, I got my will into order to prepare for my passage.  I hope you didn’t take it too hard. You and the other children were my life, so I hope that what you and the others receive from the will is to your liking._

_I didn’t have to think too hard on what I wanted to give to you, my boy.  There was no doubt in my mind who I wanted to leave the care of the house to, for you see,  you over qualify for that position Fakir, so it is only obvious that I’d give it to you.  I had decided this a long time ago, but recent events have made me alter my previous decision.  You will still get the house, Fakir, but with your story writing consuming most of your time, and since Uzura needs constant watching over, I decided that Duck could help you.  You and her make quiet the team, so I know that you two will be fine!  Besides that, though, I know that after my death you’ll want to stay as far away from the house as possible. The house contains too many memories, and the thought of living there without me frightens you.  That’s the other reason why I’m giving co-ownership to Duck.  She calms you down, and I know that, deep down, you don’t want her too far away anyway.  So with that, I’ll leave you two with the house and Uzura’s care.  Tell the other kids I’m proud of them and miss them already, and don’t let Duck get away from you!  She’s a keeper!  I swear you two are just too stubborn to see clearly!_

_Well, I wish you two the best of luck and a happy future together!_

_With love, from your father,_

_Charon_

Shock was the most evident feature on the knight’s face as the others watched him read the contents of the letter.  His mouth read the words silently as he frantically re-read the letter over and over again; making sure that what he was reading was actually true. The knight finally came to the realization on what Charon was implying, and the blush that was still on his face grew to epic proportions.

Duck (along with everyone else in the room) couldn’t help but notice Fakir’s reaction to the note in his hands.  “Fakir…?” The red-headed girl spoke tentatively, startling the knight out of his thoughts. “What did the letter say?”

With his face contrasting greatly with his hair, the knight shoved the letter into Duck’s hands without looking at her.  “Here,” he mumbled out, quickly getting up out of his chair. “I’m going to get a drink of water.”  With that, the very flustered knight left the room quickly, slamming the double doors behind him in his rush.

Duck flinched at the sound of the wooden doors slamming (and the lawyer gave a non-approving grunt towards the absent knight for being so harsh with his property), before she, too, read the letter.  The other occupants of the room watched as her aqua-blue eyes skimmed the letter, her face taking on a redder tinge with each minute that passed.

“What does the letter say, Duck?”  Mytho asked with curiosity, his eyes filled with amusement.

“Um…ah…” Duck stuttered out, not sure if she should reveal all the contents of the letter.  She decided to go with a shortened version.  “Um…Charon just wanted me to help Fakir take care of Uzura.  He also wanted to tell you guys that he’s proud of you and misses you all.” 

“Oh really?  Is that all that the letter said?”  Rue asked with a smile and a teasing tone, knowing that Duck was hiding certain parts of the letter.  It was obvious from both the duck’s and her knight’s reactions that there was something in the letter to get flustered about.

“N-n-n-n-n-no!  T-t-t-t-there’s n-n-nothing else!” Duck stuttered horribly while flapping her arms wildly.  “NowifyouexcusemeIhavetogotalktoFakir!” she rambled out as fast as she could, and got up from her chair to leave the room, accidentally leaving the letter behind in her flustered state.  With an “Oh-zura!” from Uzura, who was still on the Duck’s lap when she got up, which resulted in the puppet falling on her butt to the floor, Duck left the lawyer’s office without looking back.

There was a pregnant pause as everyone stared at the now closed double doors from which the two flustered love-birds had left.  That is, until Autor grabbed the letter in excitement and started to read it out loud to the craving ears around the room.  The group was so focused on the letter that they didn’t notice a little puppet leave the room as well.

\--------

Fakir was happy that the lobby outside was empty, so that he could think without being interrupted.  The knight’s arms were crossed over his chest and his head was bowed in deep thought as he began to walk back and forth in agitation.  Just what was Charon getting at anyway?  The letter gave the young writer the impression that Charon was setting him up with Duck!  Fakir gave a grimace at that thought. He didn’t know what frightened him more: Duck moving into Charon’s house with him, or Charon trying to play match-maker from beyond the grave. 

" _Damn you, Charon!_ ” The knight thought in frustration. _“What the hell were you thinking?!  I can’t live with Duck!  She’s…she’s…”_

**_“She’s what?  Everything you’ve ever wanted?”_** Said a voice in the back of his mind; trying to speak reasonably with the flustered boy.

If Fakir wasn’t so worried about his current situation he would have been more concerned for his own mental health. He was beginning to talk to himself! _“T-that has nothing to do with it!  I can’t live with her!”  _He responded to his internal voice in desperation.

**“ _And why is that?”_**   The irking voice questioned again. 

Fakir glared depressingly at the nearest wall. _“I just don’t think it would work out.  It would be far too awkward.”_

**_“Now, why wouldn’t it work?  You both get along well.  Like Charon said, you two make a good team.”_ **

Fakir gave a grunt of amusement at the dead man’s name.  _“What does Charon know?  If I’ve told him once I’ve told him a million times about Duck and me. It. Just. Won’t. Work.”_ The young man commented, emphasizing the last four words.  He remembered that ever since he had turned Duck back into a human that Charon had been pestering him whenever the girl wasn’t around.  _“Haven’t you asked her out yet?”_ or, _“She won’t wait forever, you know.”_ Were his most common phrases when he tried to encourage the boy to make a move, and each time, Fakir explained that he couldn’t.   The knight chuckled to himself sadly, remembering one of the most recent moments he had with the blacksmith concerning the girl of his desires.

\--------

It had been just after breakfast one school day morning and Fakir was washing the dishes before he headed off to his first class.  Incidentally, Duck woke up early enough to visit them and had joined them for that very breakfast.  Once the girl had left with Uzura in tow, Fakir decided to do the dishes while Charon sat at the kitchen table reading the paper. 

Charon was skimming the headlines when he decided to strike up a conversation.  “You and Duck sure talked up a storm this morning; you both seemed rather excited,” the older man commented with amusement.

Not even bothering to look in the blacksmith’s direction, Fakir continued to scrub the dishes clean.  “Well, we usually don’t see each other too much until the weekends.  I was just surprised to see her, that’s all.”

“Hmm…”  The blacksmith hummed thoughtfully.  “Do you mind if I ask you a question, Fakir?” Charon asked with a cheeky smile.

Fakir gave a sigh, knowing where this was going.  Seeing as there was probably no way out of it, and that Charon was always persistent when it came to him and Duck, he saw no other way but to accept.  “Sure,”he grunted out unhappily as he started drying the soapy dishes.

It was then that Fakir heard Charon scoot his chair back to look at him more directly.  With the biggest goofy smile he could muster, Charon asked the dreaded question.  “So when are you going to ask for that girl’s hand in marriage?”

The question was answered by the sound of breaking dishes and a startled choke.  Faster than Charon could blink, Fakir spun around and flung the wet dish towel he was holding, hitting the blacksmith square in the face.  “What kind of question was that?!” The knight spat out, highly flustered and face as red at a tomato. 

Charon took the dish rag from his face and gave a mighty guffaw as Fakir grabbed his school bag and headed out the door.  He could still hear Charon laughing as he stomped down the street to school.

\--------

Fakir smiled sadly at the silly memory.  Charon always found fun in getting under his skin sometimes, but the man couldn’t just take a hint.  It couldn’t work out between Duck and him, no matter how much he wanted it to.  He knew that Duck had loved Mytho during the collection of the prince’s heart shards and her time as Princess Tutu.  He knew that she was hurt and saddened by Mytho picking Rue over her to be his princess.  And while she was an actual duck, he swore he saw her staring up at the sky where Mytho and Rue had disappeared after the battle with The Raven with longing in her eyes.

Fakir gave a depressed sigh as he leaned against one of the lounge sofas for support.  If there was one thing he didn’t know, it was if Duck had any feelings towards him; the man who had stayed by her side this whole time.  He didn’t know if she still cared for Mytho, and a part of him didn’t want to know.   What truly scared him the most was the thought of her rejection.  The thought of it made Fakir’s heart feel like it was being sucked down into a black hole.

Well if there was an upside to things, at least the stupid nagging voice in the back of his head was gone. He could actually consider himself legally sane again!  Sadly, all thoughts of sanity were thrown out the window when he heard the whisper of a certain girl he didn’t want to talk with at the moment.

“Are you alright, Fakir?” Duck asked in concern, startling the boy yet again from his thoughts.

“D-Duck?!” Fakir yelped in surprise, his heart leaping in his chest painfully. He grimaced self-consciously at his reaction. Why did his voice have to crack just now?! And when was he going to stop blushing like a mad man?!  It was getting rather old!

Seeing Fakir blush made Duck blush as well.  “U-u-um, I w-was just w-w-wondering if y-you were alright?” Duck stuttered in nervousness.

The two stood in silence, not daring to look at the other as the thoughts of the letter flitted through their minds. 

“I-I…I just…”Fakir ended with an exasperated sigh.  What did he want to say?  Well, whatever it was, he sure as hell didn’t know.  He wasn’t even sure he could talk to the girl so soon after reading that damned letter.  “I just…needed to think for a little while,” he ended lamely as he continued to avert his eyes away from Duck.

“I know,” Duck said quietly.  “That letter was a lot to take in.  It’s hard to believe that Charon would trust me enough to look after Uzura and the house for him.”

For the first time in what felt like forever, Fakir glanced down at the girl questioningly.  “And why wouldn’t he trust you?  You’ve done nothing to shake his trust, and you’re practically one of the family.”

Duck blushed at one of the knight’s rare compliments.  “It’s just that I know you’re uncomfortable about this situation, Fakir,” She stated openly, because she didn’t feel like beating around the bush.  “If you don’t want me to own the house with you, then I can ask Charon’s lawyer to remove me from the will.” 

Fakir stared at the girl, perplexed.  Was it just him or did he notice how sad she sounded at that last statement?  It was always like Duck to do something selflessly.

Duck seemed to take Fakir’s perplexity the wrong way, because she quickly added, “I mean, I’ll still watch over Uzura if you want me to!  I won’t dump her on you because you’re so busy and everything with school and your story writing, and now that Charon’s gone you probably have to work extra hard now to make ends meet!  That is, if you want to move back into the house in the first place, because that’s totally up to you!  I’d completely understand if you didn’t because of all the memories and stuff, but even if you decide to move back in or not, I’ll still watch over Uzura when you want me to!”  She ended, her eyes swirling dizzily as she took small gasps for much needed air.

To say Fakir was speechless was an understatement.  He was still trying to grasp all that Duck had said when the girl looked up at him with sadness radiating in her eyes. 

“Okay…I’ll go talk to the lawyer about taking my name out of the will now, I guess.”  She said, obviously taking Fakir’s silence for agreement.  She began walking away towards the office doors when a hand grabbed her arm, stopping her in her tracks.

“Wait,” Fakir pleaded, his grip tightening slightly on her arm.

Duck was surprised to find the knight’s hand on her arm.  She was even more surprised by him asking her to wait.  The young girl was so sure that Fakir didn’t want her to move in with him. 

Duck turned to look at him. Even though most of his face was hidden by his dark bangs, she could still tell he was determined to get something off his chest.

“Charon was right…about me being afraid of moving back in, that is,” Fakir started off, his voice slightly wavering from the effort he was putting into telling Duck the truth.  “That was part of the reason why I’ve been living with Autor for the past week.  I just couldn’t stand being in that house anymore!” He growled out the last sentence as his voice took on an angry edge.  “Every time I was in there, all these memories seemed to come out of nowhere and attack me, like they were mocking me over his death…like I could have done something differently to save him…”

“Fakir…” Duck muttered sympathetically.  “There was nothing we could do.  The heart attack happened too fast for us to even do anything about, and he died almost instantly afterwards.” She hung her head in despair, remembering the frightening memory.

“I know,” The knight whispered softly.  “I know that now, but at the time it was too overwhelming.  But now I see that I can’t run away from this problem anymore!”  Fakir’s voice started to become stronger with determination as he let go of Duck’s arm and looked down at her.  “I could never walk away and let the house that Charon cared for so much rot away from neglect; so I’ve decided to move back in.  I won’t hide from my fears anymore.”

Duck smiled up at the taller boy proudly.  “Good!”  She exclaimed happily.  “You’re a strong person, Fakir, so I know you can make it through this!”

A soft smile graced the troubled knight’s lips as he gazed down sadly at the duck.  “Thanks, but I don’t think I’ll be strong enough to face this alone.”

“Huh?” Duck asked in surprise.  Her mind reeled.  Did Fakir mean what she thought he meant?

“What I mean is…” Fakir paused as he stared down lovingly at the girl he cared deeply for.  He was true to his word when he said he wasn’t going to hide from his fears anymore. Fakir had decided to take a chance with fate; Charon would have wanted that in the least.  “Will you move in with me, Duck?”

The duck-girl gaped in complete surprise at the young man before her.  She never expected him to ask her that!  Happiness swelled in the young girl’s heart at the thought of Fakir actually wanting her to live with him.  She had realized that she loved him ever since they danced that pas de duex in the Lake of Despair, and remembered how she had longed to be a girl again just so that she could truly be with him. But she was just too afraid he’d reject her.  Even when he turned her back into a girl, Fakir always seemed to be distant like he didn’t want to be around her (little did she know that he didn’t want to be rejected as well).  Their friendship never wavered, but she swore that there were certain instances where he showed how much he actually did care for her (like that moment at the funeral home yesterday where he cried on her shoulder). Now for him to ask her this, for him to smile at her like his smile was only for her, made her heart flutter while the rest of her body turned to mush.

“Duck?” Fakir asked the girl worriedly, hoping she wasn’t rejecting his offer.  The girl had been staring at him, mouth agape, for a full minute now, and he was beginning to wonder if her brain had actually stopped functioning.

Snapping out of her girlish-fantasies, Duck peered into her knight’s eyes.  There was no doubt what her answer would be.  “Of course I will,” she whispered happily as she took his hands in hers.  “It was Charon’s final wish after all, and since you really want me to, how could I possibly say no?”

The young knight sighed in relief as he took his duck into his arms.  “Thank you,” he whispered softly to her as she embraced him back.

The two didn’t know how long they stood there holding each other, nor did they care.  To them, the only people who existed in the whole universe were themselves, but, sadly, the knight and duck’s  little moment had to come to an end.

“Does that mean that Duck will live with us forever-zura?!” Uzura exclaimed as she jumped out from behind a potted plant she had been hiding behind the whole time.

Upon hearing the little puppet, Fakir and Duck jumped away from each other like they had just touched a burning stove.  The two blushed in complete embarrassment, knowing Uzura must have been watching them the whole time. 

“Uh…that’s the plan for now, I guess,” Duck stated hesitantly while she rubbed the back of her head nervously.  At least she was trying to talk; Fakir seemed to have lost the ability to speak as he was too busy paying attention to the opposite wall. 

Uzura beat her drum in excitement after hearing Duck confirm her question.  “If that’s so, then where’s Duck going to sleep-zura?”

That question caused Fakir and Duck to look at each other with concern.  They hadn’t thought of that.  There were only three rooms within the house, Fakir’s, the guest room where Uzura was staying, and…Charon’s.  Duck was sure Fakir didn’t want anyone to disturb Charon’s room, not now anyway, but she was also sure he would be uncomfortable with her in his room as well (she was blushing madly at the thought), so that only left one more option.

Duck turned towards the wondering puppet with a big smile on her face.  “I guess that means we’re roommates, Uzura!”

Fakir smiled at this, relieved that Duck understood his thoughts concerning Charon’s room.  He didn’t want to disturb it for now.  His smile only grew as he watched Uzura squeal in childish excitement as her and Duck held hands and twirled around in circles to celebrate their new status with each other. 

Everything seemed to have finally calmed down for the three.  They could now push away their sadness for a departed friend and live towards a happier future together.  Little did they know, though, as Duck and Uzura fell down laughing from spinning to fast, that the excited little puppet had another ordeal in store for the little family. 

 

On the outside she was the same old Uzura, but on the inside, she was a frightened little girl pondering on a question she wasn’t sure she wanted answered.


	6. A Little Girl's Curse

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright, here's the next chapter. For this one, there is a little bit of the Christian religion mentioned in it again, so hopefully you guys won't mind. There's also a mixture of lightheartedness and angst/drama again, so hopefully you guys won't mind as well. I hope you all enjoy the chapter! =)

Duck sighed grumpily as she left the ballet dressing rooms at Gold Crown Academy.  She had just undergone a humiliating visual performance in front of the whole class, making her wonder why she decided to take up ballet again in the first place.  Oh, that’s right, she liked to dance!  How could she forget?  It never crossed her mind that she wasn’t the best dancer (she had a certain unique style about her, but she still was too clumsy and not very good), but she took up ballet anyway because she was no good at the other class divisions like art, drama, or literature.

“Oh, Duck!  That performance today was so horribly-awful!  It makes my heart pound just thinking about it!” Lilie piped up with her voice dripping with morbid positivity.  The girl had seemingly popped up out of nowhere, scaring Duck out of her mind and causing her slight pain as her fantasizing friend practically snapped Duck’s head clean off her neck when she grabbed her face to look at her.  “But don’t worry, Little Duck; we’ll always be here for you when you screw up again!”

Lilie finally let go of Duck’s head as she chortled giddily to herself.  The duck-girl rubbed her neck ruefully, wondering if someday her happily-dreary friend would eventually kill her.

“Oh, it wasn’t that bad, Lilie,” Pique commented dryly, her pink hair bobbing up and down as she moved to the two girls’ sides.  “Duck just tripped and fell onto the pianist, who had to be taken to the hospital because his head was cracked open from the impact of hitting the side of the piano.”

Duck almost cried in shame.  Pique made it sound like it was an everyday occurrence!  She almost killed the man!

“Oh don’t worry too much about it, Duck.  That wasn’t the first time it happened to him.  Girls who were actually clumsier then you have given him worse injuries,” Pique said, trying to console her friend.

“Yes, Duck, don’t worry about it,” Lilie added with her usual over-happiness. “The hit on his head will probably give him severe amnesia, so he won’t remember who hurt him in the first place!”

Duck grimaced.  Why did Lilie have to sound so happy about that?! That wasn’t good at all!

“But it has got me thinking, Duck,” Pique started again as the girl’s left the school building and walked towards the girl’s dorms, since school was done with for the day.  “This is our last year here, so we have to start thinking about what we want to major in for college!  I’m sorry to say it, but your dancing skills are average at best. You shouldn’t expect to do professional dancing anytime in the near future.”

Duck gave another little sigh.  “I know that,” She mumbled sadly.  “I’ve been wondering about that, too.”  She didn’t have any amazing skills like Rue and Mytho had for dancing; she wasn’t even sure if she was good enough to qualify for any career!  Just what was she good at?  Maybe she could be a back-up dancer for a traveling troop? No.  Maybe a teacher?  No, she hardly maintained a C average, how could she teach someone else?!  Oh!  She was good with kids!  Maybe she could open up a daycare or a preschool!  Duck’s thoughts turned more positive as she continued to think along this line.

“Well, we still have over half the year left, so don’t think too hard on it,” Pique said, breaking Duck’s positive train of thought as she patted her on the shoulder sympathetically.

“Yeah, we wouldn’t want your little brain to explode from thinking to hard!” Lilie added happily like she wanted that very thing to happen to the poor duck-girl.

With a little pat on the head from Lilie, Duck’s two friends entered the girl’s dorm compound that they had arrived at.  Duck almost sighed in relief from their departure.  She loved her friends but, sometimes, they could be a handful (not to mention party-poopers!).  Thinking back to her career in daycare, Duck walked out of the iron gates of Gold Crown Academy with a new positive air in her step.

It had been about a week and a day since the reading of Charon’s will, and Duck had moved into the blacksmith’s house with Fakir and Uzura.  The night of the will reading had been too busy, so she didn’t actually move in until the following day after school.  Duck remembered back to that night where everyone met up at Charon’s old house to gather the objects that were written to them in the will.  That night had been hectic, not to mention rather depressing.

\--------

Fakir and Duck had stood in the kitchen, watching the other’s move about the house collecting the things they wanted (Uzura had followed Mytho into his old room, who was retrieving some of the things he had left there since he had lived in the house, to make sure he didn’t take any of her toys).  The air within the house was rather tense as the group went about the morbid business.  To help with the situation (or not), much to Duck and Fakir’s embarrassment, Autor made jibes at the couple for Charon’s letter and because they actually told the group that they were moving in together.  The teasing eventually died down when Autor left with his hands full of the books that Charon had promised him.  Shortly after that, Raetsel and her husband left, because the day had been tiring for the young pregnant woman.  Duck and Fakir gave her a hug as they confirmed that they would see her again at the baby shower a month away.  That had left Mytho and Rue, who were uncertain about leaving.  They weren’t sure when they’d see their friends again, so, being the polite people that they were, Duck and Fakir invited the royals to dinner.

\--------

The thought of that dinner gave Duck a little headache as she remembered it.  Since Mytho and Rue had never cooked a day in their lives (They had professional cooks, and they were guests at the moment, after all), and Charon was obviously not going to rise from the grave and cook them dinner, the preparations were left to Fakir.  That’s what the knight had thought anyway; for you see, Duck also wanted to cook dinner for her friends, but Fakir seemed to be firmly against it.

\--------

“Come on Fakir!”  She had whined persistently as she tried to grab a wooden spoon from the kitchen counter.  “Can’t I cook dinner for Mytho and Rue?”

The knight quickly grabbed the wooden appliance and held it out of the duck-girl’s reach. “No! There is no way I’m ever letting you near a stove again, especially after last time!” Fakir had exclaimed in annoyance.  “You practically set the whole house on fire, including your hair!”

Duck gave a little huff at the reminder of her past fault in the kitchen as she tried vainly to grab the wooden spoon from Fakir’s hand.  “Well, the whole house didn’t catch on fire and my hair grew back!” she cried indignantly.

Fakir scoffed at the girl’s rebuttal. “Did you actually expect me to let you cook after hearing that?  The answer is still ‘no’!”

While Fakir was distracted with his comment, Duck had jumped up and tore the big wooden spoon from the knight’s hands.  The girl’s eyes held a look of triumph as she one-upped the man.  “Well, this is my house, too, so I have the right to use the kitchen!”

“Hah!” the knight scoffed again grabbing onto the spoon in the pushy girl’s hands.  “If I remember correctly, Charon made me the prime owner of the house, so that means whatever I say goes!”

Duck stomped her foot in anger at the knight’s ridiculous words as the two began playing tug-of-war over the wooden kitchen appliance.  “You’re not the boss of me!  Now stop being a jerk and give me the spoon so I can cook dinner!”

Fakir’s reply was a grunt of disapproval as him and Duck pulled on opposite ends of the spoon, seeing who would let go first.  The two continued their silly little sparring match completely forgetting about the audience in the kitchen with them.  Mytho, Rue, and Uzura watched the weird couple fight over the wooden spoon with great amusement.

“They’re fighting lovey-dovey-zura!!” Uzura exclaimed happily as she beat excitedly on her drum.

Rue giggled at the puppet’s assessment.  “They are putting on quiet the performance.”  The princess turned to look at her prince with amusement in her eyes.  “Maybe we should ask them to be our new court jesters?”

Mytho smiled and chuckled at the thought of Fakir and Duck in jester costumes.  “Yes, maybe I should ask them before we leave?”

The three continued to watch the struggle between the knight and duck until Fakir won out and held the spoon above his head like a mighty saber.  A smug smile graced his lips as he looked down at the smaller Duck, who was flapping her arms like a fledgling leaving the nest for the first time as she tried to reach the spoon again.  Once the girl had finally given up and bowed her head in defeat, the sound of laughter filled the room.  The duck and the knight were caught off guard when they heard the laughter and round of applause from behind them, and turned around to see their guests.

“That was a great performance you two,” Mytho laughed with great mirth.  “I was wondering if you two wanted to be my new court jesters.  The position is open to anyone who wishes to apply.” The prince finished, shaking with little bouts of laughter.  His wife soon joined him in his laughing fit, while little Uzura hit her drum repeatedly in excitement.

Fakir and Duck stood together awkwardly as they looked on at the laughing trio while their faces turned beat red.  After the laughter died down, and an awkward silence ensued, Duck and Fakir looked away from each other in embarrassment.  They had completely forgotten that the others were there. 

“Can I at least help you?” Duck mumbled out grumpily as she tried to break the silence that had settled in the room.  She peered at the knight from the corner of her eyes.

The knight in question sighed in defeat.  He should have known that when Duck got overly persistent that there was no persuading her otherwise.  “Fine,” he grunted out, not at all pleased with the situation.  “Just don’t do anything stupid!” And with that, Fakir headed over to the kitchen counter to start preparing the meal.

Duck glowered at the night’s back, peeved that he would say such a thing.  She stomped over to the counter, kicked her knight in the shins as hard as she could for being such a jerk (which caused the boy to hop up and down for a minute in pain), and helped with the food preparations as well.

\--------

Duck shook her head, clearing the memory from her mind.  Ever since that little incident, Duck had been very persistent with cooking dinner from then on.  To help her with her inexperience, she applied for a waitressing job at Ebine’s restaurant in the woods, which, unlike before, was booming with business.  Ebine had taken the girl in like she was her own daughter and taught her how to carry heavy dishes and gave her cooking tips for when Duck was in the kitchen.  Duck was very glad for the help (and the money as well, because Fakir’s publishing money was mainly going towards his college education and the two needed to eat) and usually worked at the restaurant every day after school.

Today was Duck’s day off, though, so instead of heading towards the park where the restaurant was located, she headed off towards her new home.  She was extra excited to get home today, because she wanted to try out a new tea recipe that Ebine had taught her.  Duck specifically wanted to do this for Fakir, because the boy had been really busy as of late.  He was writing again!  The duck-girl took that as a good sign, because, ever since the knight had moved back into Charon’s house, he had been moody and distant again, even with Duck and Uzura there to help him.  For him to be writing now was a true sign of things going back to normal! Duck really hoped that the tea she would be preparing would further help the young writer to calm down.  If that didn’t work, then maybe she should try to get him to dance?  He hadn’t danced for a long time now, so maybe she could persuade him to dance with her later!  The duck gave a squeal of excitement at the thought.  Maybe he’d dance another pas de duex with her!

The little duck’s thoughts went deeper and deeper into random dancing fantasies as she made her way up to the old blacksmith house.  She was so busy fantasizing that she almost didn’t notice Uzura sitting outside by the front door.  Duck stopped a few feet away from the puppet with worry written all over her face.  She had noticed that the little girl had been acting sort of strange since the funeral, but this was the first time she saw Uzura so troubled.

The puppet in question was sitting against the outer wall of the house, her head bent down in despair as she stared at the cobbled street in front of her.  Seeing the girl like this broke Duck’s heart.  Uzura shouldn’t have been so depressed; she was a little kid after all, and little kids should be happy and carefree.  Was Charon’s death still secretly troubling her? 

Wanting to find out once and for all, Duck quietly walked up to the little puppet and kneeled down in front of her.  “Uzura?” She asked just as quietly.  “Is there something on your mind?”

Uzura jumped up in fright from the sudden question.  She didn’t expect Duck to be coming home so soon.  “No-zura!  Nothing’s on Uzura’s mind-zura!” She rambled frantically, hoping the duck wouldn’t press on.

Duck gave a weird look to the frantic little girl.  It was obvious that she was hiding something.  “You’re lying, Uzura, something _is_ bothering you.  Please tell me so I can help you.”

Uzura started to fidget nervously at Duck’s determination.  She looked away from her care-taker and replied in a quiet voice.  “I don’t want to talk about it-zura…”

Now Duck was very worried.  Usually Uzura would say whatever came to her mind without any problems, but now she was trying to hide them away.  Duck wondered if she had unconsciously taken on this bad habit from Fakir.  The duck-girl gave a sad sigh as she looked intently at the fidgeting puppet.  “Uzura…whatever this is about, it’s causing you to act strangely.  Please…if you don’t talk to someone about this then this sadness you feel will only get worse.”

The puppet peered up at Duck anxiously.  She wasn’t sure if she should talk about what had been on her mind for so long.  Her worries were swept away, though, by Duck’s next words.

“I just want to help you, Uzura,” Duck whispered kindly.  “We’re family, and I’ll always be here if you need someone to talk to, so please…tell me what’s bothering you.”

Duck’s blue eyes were filled with so much concern that the little puppet couldn’t keep quiet any longer.  “It’s something that Rue said at the funeral-zura.  She said something that made me think real hard-zura,” Uzura responded quietly, averting her eyes from her helper.

Duck gave Uzura a questioning look.  “Rue said something to you? What was that?”  She was very curious now.  Just what did Rue say to make Uzura start acting this way?

Uzura started to fidget nervously again, her feat shuffling from side to side in worry.  This was it.  This was the beginning to a conversation that had given her nightmares when she worried herself to sleep every night.  She was so afraid of what she would find out that she reverted back to keeping her mouth shut.

“Please, Uzura, tell me,” Duck pleaded, scared for the little girl’s wellbeing.  The puppets behavior was beginning to frighten her, and made her wonder if she actually wanted to know what was on the little girl’s mind.

There was another great moment of silence while Uzura contemplated continuing the conversation.  Duck did say that if she didn’t tell someone that she’d become even more sad and scared than she was now…

The puppet sighed in defeat.  She would ask the questions that plagued her mind.  “Rue said that we wouldn’t see Charon again until our time comes too-zura,” Uzura spoke up again after a brief moment of silence.

Duck was surprised by Uzura answer.  Just where was she going with this?  “What are you trying to tell me, Uzura?” Duck asked tentatively, knowing that she was swimming into troubled waters.

Another nervous fidget was Duck’s response as Uzura prepared herself for further explanation.  “When Rue said that-zura…did she mean that we would see Charon again when we die and go to Heaven-zura?”  Uzura asked as she looked into Duck’s eyes for the first time since the conversation began.

Duck paused to think about what Uzura had said before agreeing.  “Yes, that’s what Rue probably meant.  Is that what’s bothering you, Uzura?”

The puppet shook her head.  In truth this was still the beginning of what she was about to ask Duck.  There was still more she needed to know and make sure of before asking the dreaded question.

Duck was perplexed by this.  Was there more that the puppet needed to know?  She thought that what Rue had said was self-explanatory and didn’t need any more explanation.  Duck urged Uzura on with her eyes to continue.  Whatever was on the little girl’s mind, Duck was determined to help her through it.

“If what Rue said was true-zura…then does that mean that Rue and The Prince will die like Charon one day-zura?”  Uzura questioned again treading ever closer to her final question.  She hoped that Duck wouldn’t confirm her worst fears.

Duck was startled by the question and also saddened.  She didn’t want to think about Rue and Mytho passing on forever; it was just too sad.  “Yes, one day Rue and Mytho will eventually go to Heaven, too,” Duck murmured sadly to the waiting puppet-girl.  “No one knows when that day is, but a long-long time from now, they will join Charon up in Heaven, too.”

Uzura’s eyes widened in fear.  She stared frantically into Duck’s aquatic blue eyes, hoping against all hope that what she was saying wasn’t true.  “Raetsel and the Mean Glasses Guy too-zura?”

Duck bowed her head sadly, thinking of her other friends passing as well.  Uzura looked so desperate for a different answer, but Duck would never lie to her.  “Yes, they’ll live in Heaven someday, too.”  These sad thoughts were almost bringing the duck-girl to tears.

Uzura made an audible frightened gasp.  It couldn’t be!  She would lose her other friends as well?!  In final desperation she grabbed onto Duck’s arms, squeezing with all her might as tears threatened to spill-over her eyes.  “Duck and Fakir, too-zura!” she pleaded, hoping with every fiber of her being that Duck wouldn’t confirm this as well.

At the mention of her own name and the name of the person she cared about most left the puppet’s lips, Duck’s eyes began to water.  The thought of her own death slightly frightened her, and the thought of Fakir’s left her unable to speak for some time.  When she finally composed herself to look back into Uzura’s pleading eyes, she mustered all her courage to answer the question.  “Yes,” Duck choked out with finality, nodding her head in grim affirmation.

The next thing Duck felt was a crushing bear-hug as Uzura threw herself into Duck’s arms.  “No-zura!  Don’t leave me too-zura!” the little girl wailed as she buried her head into Duck’s school uniform.

Duck tried to calm the crying puppet by putting her arms around her.  “Shh! Uzura, it’s alright.  That won’t happen for a very long time, so you shouldn’t get upset over it,” Duck consoled with soothing words, blinking through her own tears. She hoped Uzura wasn’t crying too hard that she couldn’t hear her.  “There’s no reason to be afraid,” She added soothingly.

“Yes there is-zura!” Uzura screamed, pushing herself away from Duck and crying into her little hands.  “Uzura doesn’t want people to leave her anymore-zura!  If they do, then Uzura would be alone-zura!”

Duck had no idea that Charon’s death had taken such a toll on Uzura’s sense of belonging.  She wasn’t sure how to calm Uzura’s fears.  Why would Uzura be alone?  “What do you mean that you’ll be alone, Uzura?” Duck voiced her question out of curiosity as she took Uzura’s hands away from her eyes so that she could look at her directly.

This was it.  The final question that Uzura had been hiding within herself for so long was about to be asked.  Uzura sniffled trying to dry her tears as she finally asked the dreaded question.  “Will Uzura die as well-zura?”

Duck started at the question.  She stared down in shock at the weeping puppet she called her sister, not at all sure how she was going to answer that question.  Duck was surprised to find how hard Uzura’s question was starting to make her think.  Could Uzura actually die?  Edel (Uzura’s original form) had lit herself on fire to help Duck escape from an underground cavern, but she continued to live on within Uzura’s heart…so, in a sense, Edel was still alive.  Did that mean the Uzura would continue to live on as well?

While Duck continued to think, Uzura calmed herself down enough to dry her tears.  “Duck-zura?” She asked quietly, hoping the older girl would answer her question soon.

After hearing her name being called, Duck focused on Uzura again, uncertainty written all over her face.  “I don’t know, Uzura,” Duck replied while shaking her head.  “I have no idea if you can actually… _die._ ” She emphasized the last word unsurely.

Uzura gasped in surprise.  She had to know if she could go to Heaven with the others!  She had to!  She didn’t want to be alone!  “Is there any way we can find out-zura?” She asked in desperation.

Duck thought for a moment before an idea surfaced in her mind.  “Maybe there is a way!” Duck exclaimed with determination.  “Even though Charon’s the one that made you, Uzura, Fakir was still there as well! Maybe he’ll know how to answer your questions!”

Uzura’s eyes widened upon this realization.  She nodded her head to Duck, showing her that she understood and wanted to continue this conversation with the knight in question. 

With determination, Duck led Uzura into the house to talk with Fakir.

\--------- 

Fakir gave a sigh of relief as he placed his duck-feathered quill back onto his desk.  He had finally finished writing another story for Gold Crown Town. It was sort of relaxing getting back into his daily routine again; going to school, then coming home to write, but it was still rather tiring all the same.  There just weren’t enough hours in the day to write his stories, do his homework, and keep up with his social life.  With another sigh, the young writer picked up the pieces of parchment on his desk.  As he began reanalyzing his newest story, he heard a soft knock on the door.

“Come in,” Fakir called out distractedly while he busily scratched out some lines that didn’t fit with his story.

There was a soft creaking noise as Fakir’s bedroom door opened partway to reveal Duck carrying a tea tray.  It was sort of difficult holding the tray and opening the door at the same time, but with all the waitress training she had gone through, Duck had become considerably better at keeping her balance. 

“Hey, Fakir!” Duck exclaimed happily; proud that she was able to keep her balance and also for the tea she had brewed up.  “I know you were working hard, so I made you some tea.”

The knight looked up warily from his papers at the mention of Duck making tea.  “Oh…thank you...” He replied unsurely, wondering if the stuff would actually poison him.

When it came to Duck, she wasn’t very talented in the cooking department by a long shot.  Most of her food turned out to be highly inedible and caused slight food poisoning.  Thankfully, from Ebine’s tutelage (Fakir praised the ground she walked on), Duck’s food was becoming more edible by the day.

The duck-girl walked nervously up to Fakir’s desk and placed the tea tray in the corner as far away from the papers as possible, so they wouldn’t accidentally get soaked if he spilled.  She then peered at the boy anxiously, wondering exactly how to bring up Uzura’s dreaded question.   “So did you finish the story you were writing?” She asked, halfway curious and halfway purposely trying to start up the conversation.

Fakir smiled at the girl’s question.  “Yes, I have.  Would you like to read it when I’m done editing?”

“Of course!” Duck exclaimed excitedly.  She always read Fakir’s stories when he was done with them.  They were usually very interesting, and Fakir always liked to hear her input.

“Good,” Fakir nodded, going back to his editing.  It was a minute or so later when he realized that Duck hadn’t left yet.  He looked up at the girl questioningly.  “Is there something else, Duck?”

“U-u-um…” The girl started up nervously, her hands fidgeting with the hem of her grey skirt.  Fakir seemed to be in such a better mood today that she didn’t want to break Uzura’s question to him.

“Duck?” Fakir asked again in a more serious tone, noticing the girl’s hesitation. What was causing her so much agitation?

“Um…Fakir…it’s about Uzura,” Duck started up again with more courage this time.  She had to get Fakir to answer the question, but she wasn’t sure how to start it up.

“What about Uzura?” Fakir asked with increased interest and slight worry.  “Don’t tell me she chased the neighbor’s cat up the tree again.” 

Duck waved her arms back and forth crazily at the notion. “Oh, no, no, no, no, it’s nothing like that!” Uzura had this strange habit where whenever she saw the neighbor’s cat she’d run at it full-throttle while banging her drum like a psychotic maniac until the poor thing found refuge in a nearby tree.  Duck swore one of these days the cat was going to die of a heart attack.  “It’s just that Uzura asked me a question that I didn’t know how to answer, so I thought you might be able to answer it for her instead,” She stated while rubbing the back of her head uneasily.

The knight’s eyes narrowed in concern.  “Why would I be able to answer this question and not you?”

“Well,” Duck explained. “It’s about when she was created.”

“Oh,” Fakir grunted unhappily; that definitely made his good mood disappear.

Duck wasn’t surprised by Fakir’s short answer; she expected it, really.  Talking about Uzura’s creation was also bringing up memories of Charon making her from Miss Edel’s un-burnt wood.  Duck almost hated herself for stirring up memories that Fakir didn’t want, but it was necessary for Uzura’s sake.  “Will you please talk to her, Fakir?  She’s very worked up about this.”

Fakir looked up at Duck’s pleading tone.  As his eyes met hers, he thought about how Uzura had been acting lately, and how worried Duck seemed to be about her.  Now that he thought about it, he was worried for the little girl, too.  It wasn’t like the puppet to get worked up over something.  “Fine,” he let out with a sigh. “Can you bring her in?”

Duck gave the knight a small smile of thanks as she turned to the partly opened door way.  “Uzura?  You can come in now,” she called to the waiting puppet.

At Duck’s call, Uzura’s head peaked out from behind the door frame. Her painted blue eyes searched Fakir’s for confirmation to enter his room.  When the knight nodded, she slowly walked into the room with her hands folded out in front of her and head bowed.  Once she had reached the desk, Uzura fidgeted nervously again.  She knew Fakir wasn’t in the best mood at the moment, and she was slightly frightened of him when he wasn’t.   Uzura looked up at Duck for some form of comfort. 

Duck gave Uzura her best encouraging smile and placed her hand on the doll’s head.  “Go ahead, Uzura.  Just start from the beginning and ask him what you asked me.”

Taking Duck’s motherly encouragement in stride, Uzura looked up at Fakir.  The knight was looking at the girl with interest as Uzura explained her and Duck’s conversation.  “Duck asked me why I’ve been sad lately-zura.  I didn’t want to answer her, because I was scared, but Duck said she wanted to help me-zura!  So I told her about what I’ve been thinking about-zura!”

“And what were you thinking about, Uzura?” Fakir asked patiently, waiting for the puppet to explain further on her odd behavior.

“Well, Rue said something that made me think reeeaaallly hard-zura!  She said we’d see Charon again when we died and went to Heaven too-zura!”  Uzura exclaimed while she waved her arms up and down getting worked up.  “Then I asked if that meant that Duck and Fakir would die someday, too, and Duck said you would-zura!!  That made me very sad…” The little girl ended morosely, her eyes welling up again with tears.  “I didn’t want to be alone-zura!”

Fakir gazed at Uzura with great concern.  He never expected Duck and Uzura to have this sort of conversation in the first place.  “Why would you be alone?” The knight unknowingly asked the same question as Duck did a few minutes ago.

Uzura began to sniffle as new tears started to spill down her cheeks.  It was time for her question to be answered.  “Duck asked me the same question-zura. So I asked her….I asked her if Uzura will die someday too-zura!!!”

Shock flitted across Fakir’s features as he took in the little puppets words.  He never would have expected the little girl to ask about her own mortality.

“You see, Fakir? This is why I brought Uzura to you,” Duck explained softly.  “I wasn’t really sure how to answer her because I don’t really know too much about her creation or how her body works.”

Fakir closed his eyes in grim understanding.  He thought deeply in silence as he wondered how to answer the question that Uzura dreaded to hear.  Fakir’s frowned deepened on his face as he came to a realization.  It was just a theory, but it was the most accurate answer he could come up with.  That still didn’t mean he had to like it, though.  “The answer lies more in Edel’s creation then it does Uzura’s,” Fakir began, breaking the long anticipated silence.

“What do you mean?” Duck replied with wonder while Uzura listened intently at the knight’s feet.

“What I mean is that Edel was Uzura’s previous form, so she’s made of the same material as Edel was,” Fakir explained slowly, conjuring up the information he knew about the mysterious puppet.  “Edel was made by Drosselmeyer for a specific reason, Duck, and that was to urge you to continue on your role as Princess Tutu. It took more than an ordinary puppet to do that.”   

Duck nodded in understanding.  Fakir did make a good point; Edel was a special puppet, but what did that have to do with Uzura’s ability to live or die?

Knowing he hadn’t explained enough, Fakir continued on.  “Drosselmeyer wanted a puppet with human like qualities that he could control with his every whim.  In order to do that, he used magical wood to create a puppet to fit that role.”

“Drosselmeyer wrote true stories right-zura?” Uzura asked with interest, interrupting the knight with her own idea.  “Couldn’t he create a puppet with his words-zura?”

Fakir gave a small smile at the puppet’s intuitive question.  “He sort of did that, in a way.” He explained further.  “In order to get magical wood, he had to write a source for it.”

Duck gasped in astonishment as Fakir’s words clicked in her mind.  “The Tree of Knowledge!” She blurted out, startling both Uzura and Fakir at her sudden outburst.

“Yes, The Tree of Knowledge,” Fakir nodded in confirmation, bestowing another smile to Duck for figuring it out.

“The Tree of Knowledge-zura?” Uzura questioned again.  The name rolled off her tongue in familiarity.  Where had she heard that name before?

“That’s the tree that gave Fakir his writing powers,” Duck explained to the questioning puppet-girl.

“Ohhhh!” Uzura vocalized as she remembered Duck telling her about Fakir talking to a tree all those years ago.

“Drosselmeyer created The Tree of Knowledge and used some of the tree’s magical wood to make Edel.  That’s what Autor and I found out when we were researching him three years ago,” Fakir started up again.  “But that’s only the beginning.  Because Edel was magical, she was able to understand human emotions, and in the end made a heart for herself when she wanted to turn her back on her creator in order to help us.”

Duck nodded her head sadly.  She remembered Edel burning her body to lead her and Mytho out of a collapsing cavern, and also to warm Fakir, who had fallen into the frozen lake within the cave.  “But Ms. Edel didn’t die from burning herself did she?  She still lives on in Uzura’s heart, even though her original body is gone.”

“Yes, your right,” Fakir commented approvingly while Uzura stared between the two in wonderment.  She wasn’t exactly sure if she fully understood the conversation.  “We know for a fact that Edel isn’t dead, because Uzura _is_ Ms. Edel.  When Edel realized her own heart existed, and when she burned away her old body, her heart continued to exist within her un-burnt remains.  So when Charon created Uzura from those ashes, Ms. Edel’s heart took on the same form as her new body.  Her heart was reborn into a child’s heart.”

Duck smiled at that.  “I always wondered how Uzura could still be Ms. Edel!  But…what does that have to do with Uzura’s question?”

The knight was silent again for a moment as he thought on his previous theory.  “Well, since Ms. Edel’s body was magical, that can only mean that Uzura’s body is as well; and if that’s the case…” Fakir sighed with regret. “That could possibly mean that Uzura can’t die.”

Duck and Uzura gasped in shock.  “How can that be?!” Duck exclaimed in protest, noticing tears starting to trail down Uzura’s cheeks.  “What makes her immortal just because she’s magical?  The Raven was magical, too, and he died!”

Fakir’s face was overcome with sadness as he tried to make Duck understand.  “Haven’t you noticed yet, Duck?  It’s been over three years since Uzura was created, and since then, she hasn’t aged.  Not even the wood she’s made out of has become scratched or chipped.”

Duck choked back a startled cry.  She hadn’t noticed that at first, but now that she thought about it, it made perfect sense.  Uzura hadn’t aged in any way, and that was because of her practically indestructible magical body.  “But what if Uzura gets caught on fire?  Will she disappear then?” Duck asked hesitantly.  She didn’t want to think of Uzura turning into a pile of burning ashes.

“That I’m not too sure on,” Fakir grunted with slight annoyance.  “I’m not sure if I will ever be able to answer that question.  From what I can theorize, though, if Edel’s heart still remained while her body burned away, then Uzura’s might remain as well if she was to fall under the same fate.”

At the knight’s last theory, Uzura began to sob.  “Does *hic* that mean *hic* that when Duck and Fakir go to Heaven *hic* Uzura will never ever see them again-zura!”

Fakir’s heart caught in his throat as he looked away from the little girl. The young knight hated himself for hurting the girl so badly.  He didn’t want to answer her question, but seeing as Uzura was desperate for a definite answer, he had no choice.  “If my theory is correct then, yes, you’ll never pass on, Uzura,” He whispered with grim finality, making Uzura’s worst fears come true. 

Uzura’s shook her head back in forth in disbelief.  She couldn’t die?  She couldn’t go to Heaven where Charon and everyone else would be? 

She’d be alone.

The puppet-girls eyes widened in fear; flashes of all the memories she had with everyone she cared about raced through her mind.  The little girl’s body began to shake uncontrollably.  She could almost see it.  She could almost see herself walking the streets of Gold Crown Town alone. Strangers would surround her every day as she walked down the street, their faces horribly disfigured and unfriendly.  She could see Charon’s old house run down and dilapidated because no one was alive anymore to take care of it.  Having no place left to go, Uzura could see herself walking towards a familiar grave yard, her eyes dead from lack of anymore emotions to feel, as she gazed down at the plot’s that contained her loved-ones names written in cold stone…

“No-zura!” The little doll wailed in despair, trying to push the morbid images away. “That can’t be true-zura!!  I don’t want Duck and Fakir to die; you’re the only family I have-zura!!”  The outlook on her distant future was too much to take in. The thought of her staring down at the gravestones of her loved ones had made her feel so hollow.

Like an actual _puppet_.  

Uzura couldn’t see clearly anymore.  Her eyes were glossed over from too many tears. She cried her little heart out begging destiny to change the plans it had in store for her.  In desperation, she flung herself onto Duck, hoping that if she held onto her with all her might that the duck-girl wouldn’t disappear forever.  “Please don’t leave me-zura!  I don’t want to be alone!  I don’t want to be alone-zura!!”

Uzura’s cries of agony were too much for Duck.  She felt her legs crumble beneath her as she held onto the little girl for dear life.  Agonized sobs wracked the young girl’s frame as she cried with her grieving friend.  Fate was too cruel.  How could a little girl be destined to live forever as everyone she knew and cared about died around her?  How could that be right?!

“This isn’t right, Fakir…” Duck pleaded out between sobs; imploring the knight to do anything he could to change the girl’s fate.  “Please…t-there has to be a way t-to change this! There has to be!”  Her voice began to get more desperate with every breath.  “Uzura doesn’t deserve this, Fakir, please!!!”

Fakir couldn’t bring himself to look at her.  He was facing away from the two people he cared about the most in complete self-loathing.  With every sob and plea he heard he detested himself all the more.  He regretted even answering the question; he should have just kept his mouth shut!  When Duck screamed her last plea he flew out of his chair and took his frustration out on the opposite wall, punching a good sized dent into the plaster.  “And just what do you want me to do, Duck?!  What could I possibly do to make this better?!” He screamed in anger and frustration as he glared towards the two girls sobbing on the floor.

Uzura squeaked in fright from the knight’s venomous outburst and held onto Duck tighter as she continued to cry.  Duck also flinched from Fakir’s reaction.  She looked up at him in terror, wondering what he was going to do next. 

Seeing the two girls’ reactions to him made Fakir feel sick with himself.  He shouldn’t have yelled, but he was just too angry with himself in order to stop it, and because of that, he took it out on the people he cared about.  He was also the one that had caused them to cry in the first place!  Fakir’s face filled with pain and grief as he sat back down in his chair and turned away from the frightened girls, too disgusted with himself to look them in the eyes.

Duck’s fear subsided once she saw Fakir sit back down.  She was sure he wasn’t going to hurt them, but he was known to be quiet unpredictable when he was angry.  Duck choked back more agonized sobs as she saw Fakir turn away from her dejectedly as he wallowed in his own grief.  She remembered the good mood he was in earlier today and was overcome with guilt as she realized she had taken that good mood away.  She had made Fakir answer Uzura’s question that had led to all of this heartache!  There had to be a way for her to fix this!  Duck looked around the room frantically for anything that would give her an idea or help her.  Her heart beat erratically with hope as her eyes fell upon Fakir’s story that was still lying on his desk.  That was it! 

“Fakir!” She gasped in realization.  “You can write a story!!!  You can write a story for Uzura!”

The duck’s hopeful gasp brought Fakir back from his internal grieving.  He stared into Duck’s blue eyes with shock.  “A…story?” He whispered uncertainly.

Uzura sobs quieted down when she heard Duck’s idea.  Her eyes filled with hope as she pondered the possibilities of a story written about her working.  The puppet-girl composed herself and let go of Duck to look at her.  “Do you think it will work-zura?”

Duck nodded her head determinedly.  A new light shined in her eyes as she looked between the puppet and knight.  “It _will_ work!  Fakir is an amazing story writer! There’s no doubt in my mind that he can do this.”  She stopped as she stared with hope into Fakir’s eyes.  “This might be our only way to change things, Fakir.  You changed the fates of the people from The Prince and the Raven, and you can change Uzura’s just as well.”

Fakir continued to stare deeply into Duck’s aquatic depths.  The light and hope radiating from her was so overwhelming that it stunned the knight into silence.  Could he actually write a story about Uzura’s mortality?  The thought almost frightened him.  Many things could go wrong… he might accidently end up killing her like he did his parents! 

Uzura believed that what Duck said was right.  She conveyed her belief by gazing hopefully up at the knight before her.  “You can do it, Fakir!  I believe in you-zura!”  With that, Uzura took her drum from her side and began beating it in an up-beat manner, restoring more hope to the doubtful knight. 

Fakir gave a small smile at the two girls’ faith in him.  How could he say no to their enthusiasm when they were putting all of their hope into the writing of this story?  “Alright,” Fakir agreed with new-found strength.  “I’ll do my best.”

From there, the depressing atmosphere disappeared from the room like it never existed to begin with.  Duck and Uzura celebrated with jubilation as they bounced out of Fakir’s room to give the boy space to write the new story.

The knight chuckled to himself.  Who would have thought that the day would have turned out like this?  Feeling a little more optimistic than usual, Fakir glanced at the still untouched tea set that Duck had left for him.  The boy gave an indifferent shrug as he poured himself a cup, not really caring if he would regret it later.  What could it hurt, right?  The knight took a small sip and was surprised to find out the tea was actually good!  Taking the drinkable tea as a good omen, Fakir took out some new parchment, dipped his quill into some ink, and with renewed determination began to write. 


	7. All Stories Must Come to an End

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright guys, this isn't the official last chapter, but it still, technically, is a last chapter lol. There will be a long bonus chapter after this that will tie off any loose ends that this chapter didn't establish, and it will be very lighthearted in comparison to the rest of this fic lol. Either way, I hope you enjoy the conclusion of this story and the bonus chapter to come =)

_One week later…_

Duck gave a jubilant laugh as she flew out of the door of Ebine’s restaurant, the sun shining down on her and lighting up her face.  “Alright!” She exclaimed as she jumped up and down in joy.  “I have enough money to buy Raetsel a good gift for her baby shower!”  The duck gushed at the thought at shopping for baby stuff.   _“Maybe I should ask Fakir to come with me so we can pick out our gifts together,”_ she thought as she began to walk towards the direction of home.  That thought made the duck giggle insanely as images of a very annoyed Fakir flitted through her mind.  He would probably get very flustered over the idea and ask her to do the shopping so he wouldn’t have to trifle with it; besides, he was busy anyways.

Duck’s good mood lessened slightly at the thought of the busy story-writer.  It had been a week now since the little episode over Uzura’s question about her mortality.  Since then, Fakir had barely come out of his room.  It had gotten to the point where the knight even forgot to eat as he concentrated with all his might to write a good story for the little puppet.  Because of that, Duck had to bring food up to his room and leave it outside the door for him to eat later.  She really hoped he would finish Uzura’s story soon; she was starting to worry over the boy’s health. 

As for Uzura, she had been a little happier.  She was still anxious about the story being written for her but she smiled a little more often and banged her drum to show she was alright.  Duck was glad to see the puppet smiling once again, even if it was only a little bit.

Speaking of the puppet, did Duck just hear a drum?  The girl glanced around her in the streets of Gold Crown Town, scanning the crowd for the little drummer girl.  Once she spotted a little blob with sea-green hair marching toward her, she waved her arm up high and called out excitedly, “Hey Uzura!  What are you doing here?!”

Uzura stopped beating her marching drum as she approached the happy duck.  “I came to pick Duck up from work-zura!” The puppet smiled brightly up at Duck.  “I haven’t done that for a while, so I decided to come today-zura!”

Duck returned the puppet’s smile, appreciating her thoughtfulness.  “That’s very nice of you Uzura. So do you want to walk straight home or do you want to wonder around for a little bit?” She asked kindly.

Uzura put a fist to her mouth in thought.  “Hmm…how about we go home-zura?  I’ve been walking around all day, ‘cuz Fakir is mean and doesn’t like it when I’m in the house when he writes-zura!”

Duck laughed at Uzura’s comment as the puppet beat her drum in frustration towards said knight. It was obvious why Fakir didn’t want the puppet around when he was trying to concentrate.  “Okay, I get it, Uzura.  Let’s go home.”

The duck and the wooden puppet started walking side by side as they made their way back towards the house.  Duck would ask what Uzura had been up to all day, and Uzura would supply with great detail her many misadventures.  They were walking by one of the surrounding walls of Gold Crown Town when the puppet stopped walking and stared off into the distance.

A gentle breeze began to blow as the puppet’s eyes became un-focused, her painted blue orbs continuing to stare into nothingness.  

_“One day…”_

“Uzura?” Duck asked tentatively once she had noticed the little girl’s absence from her side.  She looked back to see the puppet in a trance-like state, staring ahead of her without seeing.  “Uzura, what’s wrong?!” Duck gasped as her face scrunched up with worry.  She ran over to the puppet and kneeled down to her eye level.  She grasped the puppets shoulders and starting to shake her slightly, hoping to snap her out of her trance.  “Uzura!  Uzura!  Please snap out of it!  What’s wrong with you?!”

If Uzura heard Duck’s pleas, she didn’t show it.  She continued to stare in front of her as she heard the wind whisper in her ear.

_“One day…when everything is gone…you’ll come to me…when you hear this song…”_

“I’ll come to you when I hear this song…” Uzura repeated the mysterious voice’s song with no emotion.  She continued to listen intently as the wind sprung up again, the music putting her into a sense of spiritual calm.

Duck was very concerned now.  “What song?  Uzura, what are you talking about?”  She begged, shaking the puppet a little harder.

_“You will cry no more tears…nor will you weep…but you’ll pray to thee…your soul keep...”_

“I’ll pray to thee my soul to keep…” Uzura repeated again, the eerie yet comforting voice continued to resound in her head.

_“And when that day comes… forever is with me…you’ll either choose slumber…or to live eternally…”_

The wind died down as the voice began to fade along with Uzura’s state of mind.  Her eyes closed with weariness as she slumped forward into a panicking Duck’s arms. 

“Uzura!” Duck worriedly exclaimed as the puppet girl fell limp in her arms.  “Uzura!  Open your eyes! Please!”

Uzura opened her eyes groggily.  “Duck-zura?” she questioned in a whisper as she came-to.

“Oh, Uzura!” Duck cried with relief as she hugged the little puppet to her as her eyes began to water.  “I thought you wouldn’t wake up again!  What happened?” She demanded as she stared into Uzura’s eyes.

Uzura had to think for a bit on what Duck was talking about before she answered.  “You mean…you didn’t hear the voice-zura?” She asked with innocence.

“…What voice?” Duck questioned as she looked at the little girl, perplexed.  “I didn’t hear any voice, Uzura, just the wind.”

“You…didn’t hear it-zura?” Uzura asked in disbelief.  “But it was singing-zura!”

Duck stared at the little puppet blankly, wondering if Uzura had lost her mind.  Well, the puppet did seem out of it a couple minutes ago, so maybe there was a voice and she just didn’t hear it.  “What did the voice say, Uzura?” Duck decided to play along and asked.

Uzura crossed her arms in thought, trying to remember what the voice had said to her.  The voice had sounded so familiar, almost like Ms. Edel’s voice, but older and wiser.  “Um…it said to join her or something-zura,” Uzura conceded in defeat, only remembering that part of the song.  Maybe she’d remember it if she heard it again.

“Well…a…that’s strange…” Duck fumbled with her words, trying to sound like she believed what Uzura had said. 

The duck and puppet just stared at each other in awkwardness till they heard a voice calling their names.  The girls turned around to see Fakir running towards them with a bundle of parchment in his hands.  “Hey,” he greeted them upon his arrival and while trying to catch his breath.  “I was wondering where you two were, I’ve been looking for you for a while.”

Duck noticed by the sun’s lowered position that it was a little later than usual when she would get home from work.  She rubbed the back of her head in embarrassment as she looked back towards the out-of-breathe boy.  “Hehehehe…sorry, Fakir. Uzura and I got a little distracted. We didn’t mean to worry you.”

“It’s alright,” the knight breathed a sigh of relief.  “I just needed to show you two something,” He said, indicating the pieces of papers he was carrying in his hands.

Duck and Uzura gaped at the papers like they never saw such a thing before.  The girl’s looked at each other to confirm they were on the same wave length before Duck asked.  “Is that…” She wondered as she pointed to the papers the knight was holding. “Is that…Uzura’s story?”

“Yes.  It’s finally finished,” Fakir confirmed with a small smile. 

Upon hearing this, Duck and Uzura glanced at each other again.  Understanding filled their eyes as the two girls began to jump up and down in excitement.  The story was actually finished! 

“Did it work-zura?” Uzura asked the knight, who was shaking his head at the girls’ previous behavior and muttering to himself about how idiotic they had looked.  The puppet’s painted eyes were filled with eagerness.  What did the story say?

Fakir gave a short chuckle of amusement at the doll’s question.  “It should have worked; I put all my will power into writing this story for you, after all.” He then paused, pretending to consider the two girls, who were leaning in and hanging on every word he said.  “Do you want me to read it to you?” He asked jokingly, already knowing the answer beforehand.

“Yes!!!” Duck and Uzura agreed in unison, their faces the perfect picture of eagerness. “Tell us the story!!!”

Fakir gave a small chuckle over the girls’ silly behavior.  “Fine, let’s go find somewhere to sit down.”  With that, the knight left to find a nearby bench, followed by his faithful audience.

\--------

The knight was now seated at a nearby bench with Duck next to him and Uzura on her lap.  The two waited with much anticipation for Fakir to start reading. The suspense was all most mind-numbing.  What was Uzura’s altered fate?

With encouraging nods from his listeners, Fakir cleared his throat and began reading the story he worked so hard to complete.

_Once upon a time, there lived a puppet. This puppet, unlike many others of her kind, had a beating heart that dwelled within her small being.  She lived with a little family in a small town that was blessed with the magic of story-telling._

_The puppet and her family, a good-hearted blacksmith, a faithful former knight, and a sweet and loving girl who used to be a duck, lived happily together in the small town where stories came true.  They never thought their happiness would cease until, one day, the blacksmith died.  Sorrow overcame the former knight and duck at the blacksmith’s death.  The little puppet, though, didn’t understand why they were sad, for you see; she didn’t understand the meaning of death.  So, at the blacksmith’s funeral, she asked the former knight and ducks’ friend, a raven princess from a faraway kingdom, what death actually was._

_The princess explained to the girl what death meant, causing the puppet to cry human tears.  The little puppet finally understood that death meant she would never see her beloved blacksmith again._

_A week passed within the story-book town where the little family still lived.  The little puppet had many questions on her mind that were concerned with her own mortality but she was too afraid to ask for the answers.  Noticing the puppet-girl’s sadness, the girl-who-was-once-a-duck, asked her what was on her mind.  After much hesitation the little puppet asked if the former knight and duck would die like her beloved blacksmith and leave her.  The duck-girl nodded her head sadly, thinking of her own mortality.  The little puppet was saddened by this news.  She didn’t want all of her family to go away and leave her forever.  The little puppet then asked if she would die as well, but the duck didn’t have an answer.  Noticing the little puppet’s solemn face, the former duck took the little puppet to see the former knight; maybe he’d have the answer._

_Once the two girls had approached the knight, the little puppet asked if she was able to die like everyone else.  The former knight shook his head grimly, saying that the puppet-girl was made of magical wood from The Tree of Knowledge; so therefore, she could never die.  The little family grieved for the puppet’s misfortune. The former duck and knight tried to think of a solution that could change the problem.   What sort of fate was fair, when the little puppet they loved was destined to walk the earth alone when they were dead and buried? The two brainstormed while the puppet wept, until the duck came up with an idea.  She asked the former knight, who was now a storybook-writer with the power to make his stories come true, to write a story for the little puppet._

_The knight agreed, and for many days he tried to write the story that would change the little puppet’s fate, but the words wouldn’t come.  The knight was frustrated by his inability to help and he almost gave up until one night he had a dream.  The former knight had fallen asleep at his desk when the strange dream came to him._

_The knight’s dream took him to a meadow that was covered with thick, heavy fog.  The fog was so dense that he could hardly see in front of him until a small gust of wind blew the fog away.  What was revealed behind the fog shocked the dreaming knight, for he saw the little puppet with a heart staring up at a gigantic oak tree.  The knight called out to his family member, asking what she was doing out there, but the puppet acted like she didn’t hear the former knight’s question; she just lifted her hand and touched the bark of the gigantic oak tree._

_Suddenly, by the puppet girl’s touch, there was a blinding flash of light that was produced from the oak tree, which caused the knight to shield his eyes and look away.  When the light had faded, the knight looked towards the oak tree and gasped to find that the little puppet had disappeared!  The former knight started to call frantically for the puppet, but no response came.  The puppet was gone.  In anger, the knight went up to the oak tree that had seemingly taken the puppet away, but a voice stopped him._

_The voice was actually the voice of the oak tree!  It spoke to the knight that it was The Tree of Knowledge, the tree that the little puppet was made from, and that it could help him with his story.  The knight was surprised but accepted the tree’s wise words for her help.  It was then that the knight woke up._

_While the knight was awakening from his slumber, The Tree of Knowledge spoke telepathically with the knight, ensuring him that she would give him the words to write the puppet’s story.   It was then that the knight felt as if something had taken control of his hand, as it had grabbed the quill lying on his desk, and began writing down the story for the little puppet with a heart.  His hand flew across the page as if the mighty oak tree was speaking through him; the words writing themselves page after page._

_The Tree of Knowledge explained to the knight that the only way for the puppet to become mortal would be for the little girl to come back from where she came.  Since the little puppet was made from her wood, she would return to her: The Tree of Knowledge.  The mighty tree declared that when the former knight and duck, the last of the little puppet’s family, were laid to eternal rest, she would call the little puppet back to her with a song._

_One day when everything is gone,_

_You’ll come to me when you hear this song._

_You will cry no more tears, nor will you weep;_

_But you’ll pray to thee your soul to keep._

_And when that day comes; forever is with me._

_You’ll either choose slumber, or to live eternally._

_With that, the fate of the puppet rested in the own puppet’s hands.  When the day came after both the knight and duck had died and been buried, The Tree of Knowledge would call out to the puppet made out of her wood.  Once the puppet came back to her, the mighty oak tree would then give the puppet the option to live the rest of her life on earth, or to have her body join back with the tree and release her soul to Heaven, where she would meet her family again in the after-life._

There was a peaceful silence as Fakir finished reading the story of the puppet with a heart.  The knight looked at the girl’s expectantly, wondering what they thought of it.  He was met with smiles as the puppet and duck took in the ending of Uzura’s story.

“Did that really happen, Fakir?” Duck asked the young story-writer.  “Did The Tree of Knowledge give you a vision?” 

“It had to be-zura!” Uzura piped up before Fakir could answer.  “That was the song I heard-zura!”

“Really?!” Duck gasped with amazement.

The knight looked between the puppet and duck quizzically.  “You heard the song that The Tree of Knowledge was going to sing to you, Uzura?” 

The puppet nodded her head vigorously in confirmation.

“In that case, it’s got to be a sign that the story will come true,” Fakir said with a confident smile.  “Besides, The Tree did send me a vision that allowed me to write the story.” 

Upon hearing Fakir’s confirmation of the stories truth, the two girls stared at him in astonishment.  The story was true, and if that was the case, then Uzura could decide to join her family in Heaven when the time came.

Uzura’s eyes filled with tears of happiness.  In one, swift movement, she was out of Duck’s arms and jumping into Fakir’s.

The knight wasn’t expecting the puppet’s behavior.  The story flew out of his hands and scattered onto the cobbled street below as Uzura threw her arms around him. 

“Thank you, Fakir-zura,” Uzura mumbled into his shirt while she hugged him in gratitude.  “Now I won’t be alone-zura.”

Fakir smiled warmly down at the little puppet he thought of as a sister and hugged her back.  “You never were alone in the first place, Uzura,” he whispered in the little girl’s ear.

“That’s right!” Duck added while joining in on the group hug.  “We’re your family, Uzura.  We’ll always be with you no matter what.”

The little puppet laughed with happiness as the three continued to hug each other.  The happy family-moment seemed to last forever until another gust of wind swept by and starting carrying Uzura’s story down the street.  The little family gasped in shock at seeing the story fly off and quickly got up from the bench.  Luckily for them that the gust of wind was small, so the papers didn’t fly off too far.

“I’ll get it-zura!” Uzura exclaimed and began running down the street to collect her story before another gust of wind would carry it further away. 

Fakir was going to help her too when he felt a soft hand grab his arm gently, holding him back.  The knight looked back in surprise to see Duck giving him her biggest smile.

“You did it, Fakir,” she whispered with pride and love for him in her eyes as she grasped his hands in hers.  “I always knew you could.”

“Duck…” Fakir whispered back with gratitude, uncertain on what else to say.  He didn’t need to say anything, though, because Duck understood.  She continued to gaze at him lovingly, which he returned as well, as they showed their devotion to each other through eye contact alone. 

By this time, Uzura had finished picking up the papers (and not in order, mind you) and was now returning to the duck and knight.  She almost dropped the papers in her hands again when she saw Duck and Fakir lost in each other’s eyes, their faces drawing nearer. 

“Oh!” Uzura squeaked in happiness when she realized what was about to happen.  _“Finally-zura!!!”_

Too bad for Uzura, though, that her exclamation surprised the duck and knight out of their eye-gazing stupor.  The two love-birds glanced at the puppet in confusion, wondering what had caused her to gasp like that.

Uzura’s face puffed up with anger towards the non-kissing couple.  “You were being love-dovey-zura!!!” The puppet protested with exasperation.  “You’re not supposed to stop-zura!”

Duck and Fakir blinked at Uzura’s anger in confusion; that is, until they remembered what they were going to do and that they were still holding hands.  The two jumped away from each other like they were struck by lightning, shocked about what almost happened and completely embarrassed to boot!  The knight and duck looked anywhere but at the other, their faces blushing brighter than the setting sun.

Uzura just shook her head at the oblivious couple.  These two were just too hopeless.  If they weren’t going to get together on their own then she would just have to help them someday.

Duck fidgeted back and forth like a school girl, wondering how she was going to break the awkward silence.  “Hey!” She exclaimed when an idea popped into her head.  “How about we celebrate the completion of Uzura’s story? Let’s all go get some ice cream!”

Fakir glanced at Duck with a small blush still evident on his face.  “Ice cream?”  He asked, wondering if he had heard right. 

“Yeah!”  Duck quacked with excitement.  “That sounds good, doesn’t it?”

Fakir gave a small smile at Duck’s enthusiasm.  Leave it to Duck to want to eat something sweat.  “Okay, sure.”

Uzura looked between the duck and knight in confusion.  “What’s ice cream-zura?” She wondered as she walked up to Fakir and handed back her story.

“Oh, it’s the most amazing treat you’ll ever have, Uzura!” Duck giggled giddily.  “It’s very sweat and very refreshing!”

The puppet’s eyes widened with amazement.   “Oooooh! That sounds really good-zura!” Uzura smiled with building anticipation.  “Let’s go now-zura!”

“Way ahead of you!” Duck laughed, grabbing Uzura’s left hand.

Uzura smiled happily at her ‘big sister’, then turned towards her ‘big brother’ and offered him her other hand.  The knight smiled softly and took the puppets offer.  The little family walked off towards the nearest ice cream shop then hand in hand, the future looking brighter than it had three weeks ago.


	8. The Adventures of Uzura the Matchmaker!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright, guys, here's the bonus chapter. It's a bit silly, and I'm sure I broke the fourth wall at least once, but I do remember having a lot of fun writing it all those years back. I hope you guys will enjoy it, too! Also note, that, in this chapter, I used plain bolded text to indicate yelling, since I'm actually not too much of a fan when it comes to Caps lock yelling. Hopefully you don't mind that little change. Also, this chapter is rated slightly higher then the other ones for some swearing, so also keep that in mind if you want to read this chapter.

The sun began to set on the story book town of Gold Crown where people hustled and bustled to get their errands done before the end of the day. 

“This is soooo yummy-zura!” a little girl’s voice exclaimed from a nearby ice cream shop.  The little girl, who was actually Uzura, was sitting at an outdoor table with Fakir and Duck.  In the girl’s hands was a small chocolate ice cream cone, which she was licking enthusiastically.

“I told you you’d like it,” Duck commented with a note of triumph in her voice.  She was sitting on Uzura’s left side and eating a chocolate ice cream cone as well.

The duck’s response was enough to stir Fakir into the conversation.  He was sitting across from Duck and to Uzura’s right.  “I’m glad you two like it since I’m the one who had to _pay_ for it all,” the knight replied with a disgruntled grunt as he took a bite out of his chocolate sundae.

Duck gave an apologetic glance towards the grumpy knight as she rubbed her head in embarrassment.  “I’m sorry, Fakir.  You know I would have helped pay for it as well but I don’t have any money on me at the moment,” she ended with nervous laughter.  She actually did have money on her, but that was for Raetsel’s baby shower gift, so she didn’t want to spend it on ice cream.

Fakir gave a derisive laugh at Duck’s excuse.  “This is coming from the girl who just came from her waitressing job?  Don’t the customers give you any tips?”  He wouldn’t be surprised if they didn’t.  Duck was rather clumsy, after all.

Duck became nervous at the knight’s question.  “Well, yeah.  The customer’s give me tips, but I don’t take them,” she tried to explain.  “I mean…they’re already paying for Ebine’s excellent food!  I couldn’t possibly take more of their money from them!”

The knight just shook his head and chuckled.  That was Duck for you.  Sometimes she amazed him by her never ending selflessness.  “Idiot,” Fakir said with a tone of affection.

“Hey!” Duck exclaimed at the knight’s jab.  She stuck her tongue out at him, giving her opinion on Fakir’s title for her.  He could be such a meany sometimes!

Uzura couldn’t help smiling to herself during the duck and knights’ interaction.  Just a moment ago, these two were acting like a lovey-dovey couple and now they were bickering like one.  The thought almost saddened the puppet, though, because it was obvious that the two were completely oblivious to the other’s feelings.  Uzura shook her head in pity at the stupidity of her own family.  If they weren’t going to admit their feelings for each other then she was going to have to help them!  The little puppet continued to lick her ice cream cone in deep contemplation, wondering what she could do to get Duck and Fakir to confess.  Almost immediately, the puppet came up with a little plan; she’d have to get the two of them alone!

Luckily for the little puppet, Duck and Fakir were too busy bickering to notice the almost diabolical look that crossed Uzura’s face.  She quickly glanced towards Duck’s ice cream cone, and, with an air of innocence, declared, “Oh!  There’s something in your ice cream-zura!!!”

Duck noticed that Uzura was directing her attention to her in particular and almost dropped her ice cream cone in shock.  “What?!” She exclaimed in fear as she searched every inch of her frozen treat.  “What’s in it?!  Where is it at?!” 

Uzura jumped up in her chair and pointed to a random place on Duck’s ice cream cone.  “Here-zura!!” She exclaimed like she had found an important clue to a cryptic mystery case, causing Duck to look at the pointed spot.

While Duck was distracted looking for whatever was in her ice cream cone, Uzura grabbed the cone from Duck’s hands.  “Yoink-zura!” She exclaimed, narrating her action as she held the pilfered ice cream cone in her hand, jumped out of her chair, and ran and hid behind the nearest corner of the ice cream shop.

“What the—?!” Duck yelled in shock, noticing the lack of frozen dessert in her hand.  She quickly glanced to the side to see a certain little puppet running off with two ice cream cones clasped between her fingers.  “Uzura! Come back here with my ice cream!” Duck declared with indignation, standing up to go after the thieving puppet.

“It’s no use, Duck.  Just let her go,” Fakir sighed out with agitation.  “You know how fast she runs when she’s excited like that.”

Duck sat back down in her chair with a great huff.  “But what about my ice cream?” She whined.  She had been really looking forward to eating some.  Heck, it was her idea to buy some ice cream in the first place!  Duck gave a sad little sigh as she looked questioningly up at the knight across from her.  “Do you think you could buy me another one, Fakir?”

The knight gave a grunt of annoyance at the question.  “No, I can’t.  I used up most of my money buying the first three. I don’t have enough money to buy you another one.”  Did she think he was made of money?  He could barely pay his college tuition!

 “Oh.” Duck looked down in disappointment.  She hunched her shoulders up in sadness and stared despairingly at her feet.

Fakir flinched at the girl’s disappointment.  He hated seeing her like that, but it was true when he said he didn’t have enough money to buy her another ice cream.  The knight thought of something to say to cheer the girl up when an idea came to him.  “Well…”  He said unsurely, not knowing how Duck would react.  “I’ve…hardly touched my sundae…you can have it if you want.” For extra emphasis, Fakir pushed his dish of ice cream towards the melancholy duck, waiting for her reaction.

Duck stared at the offered ice cream in shock.  “No, I couldn’t possibly…” She replied while shaking her head in disbelief.  “It’s your ice cream, Fakir.  I couldn’t possibly take it from you.”  With that, the duckling pushed the sundae back towards him.

The knight shook his head in slight annoyance.  Duck made it sound like she was taking a treasured possession!  “No, I insist,”  Fakir reassured by pushing the ice cream towards Duck again.  “It doesn’t bother me one bit.”

Duck bit her lip in hesitance.  She still didn’t feel right about just taking it.  Maybe there was another alternative?  Duck’s eyes lit up with realization as an idea came to her.  “Hey!  Maybe we could share it?!”  She exclaimed with pride at her ingenious idea.

Fakir gave a slight blush at the thought of sharing the ice cream.  It was almost romantic in a way (and he didn’t think that Duck had realized that), but if Duck was so enthused about the idea, how could he possibly say no?  The knight answered her with a silent nod of approval, which made Duck cry out with happiness at the thought of eating ice cream again. 

Unbeknownst to the ice cream eating couple, Uzura was watching them from behind the corner of the building.  She watched as Duck ran into the store, brought out an extra spoon, and started digging into the chocolate covered sundae with Fakir joining her soon after.  The little puppet squealed in joy at the two’s display of affection and continued to watch as she took turns licking her two ice cream cones. 

Just when she thought her matchmaking plan was going perfectly, Uzura was brought back down to earth by the appearance of a certain bespectacled annoyance.

“What are you doing?” the annoyance, who was actually Autor, asked while pushing up his glasses.  He had noticed the little puppet eating her two ice cream cones while peeking her head around the corner of the building.

Uzura was so startled by the musician’s voice that she almost dropped her precious ice cream.  _Almost_ being the main word.  She quickly turned around with a look of annoyance on her face.  She didn’t really want to mess with the Meany Glasses Guy right now.  “I’m doing surveillance-zura!” She explained while waving her chocolate ice cream around.

This piqued Autor’s interest.  “And just what are you surveying?” He questioned while peeking around the corner as well.  His eyes rested on Fakir and Duck sharing an ice cream sundae in the outdoor area of the ice cream shop then.  “Well, well, what do you know?” Autor snickered with amusement.  “Are our friends on a little date?”

Uzura nodded her head proudly towards Autor, who wasn’t looking at her but at the couple a few feet away.  “Yep-zura!”

“Oh, this is just too good.” Autor muttered distractedly to himself.  “I am so going to rub this in their faces!” The boy almost laughed maniacally at the notion of walking over there that very minute and bugging the crap out of them.

Uzura noticed what the boy was getting at and frowned at the notion.  He wasn’t going to bother Duck and Fakir on their love-dovey-date!  Not on her watch!  As Autor started around the corner heading towards the unsuspecting couple, Uzura made a desperate sacrifice.  She dropped one of her ice cream cones with a splat at Autor’s feet, causing the boy to slip. 

Autor tried his best in keeping his balance (doing an amazing imitation of a flustered Duck in the process) but the surprise from the puppet’s treachery was too much, and the boy fell flat onto his back. 

Too bad for Auto, that wasn’t the end of it.  Desperate times called for desperate measures!  To make absolutely sure the musician wouldn’t bother her brother and sister, Uzura took aim with her last ice cream cone and slammed it directly into the unsuspecting boy’s face.  The unlucky book-worm gave a muffled cry of surprise as the ice cream swallowed up his whole face in all its frozen glory.  “Oooh!” Uzura feigned with innocence.  “You’re all messy-zura!  You should go clean up-zura!”

Autor sat up then, glaring daggers into the little puppet as chocolate ice cream ran down his face.  “Y-y-you…d-d-did t-that…o-on…p-p-purpose…!” he chattered through clenched teeth; the ice cream was cold after all.

Uzura gave her best, I-have-no-idea-what-you’re-talking-about face, to the geeky young man, not in the least bit sorry for her actions.  She was sorrier for actually wasting perfectly good ice cream.

Autor gave out an angry growl when he noticed the puppet wasn’t going to take responsibility for her actions.  With one last death glare towards the diabolical puppet, Autor dragged himself to his feet and walked off towards the nearest bathroom to clean up.

Once the musician was out of sight, Uzura did her own little victory dance (accompanied by the beating of her drum, of course) at the defeat of the annoying menace by her own hands.  Her victory was short lived, though, when a cry of surprise, followed by the sound of shattering dishes and a large thump, filled the early evening air.

Uzura peered behind her to see a man, the size of your average grizzly bear, lying flat on his back with ice cream all over his face and the street nearby.  It appeared that the man had been handed the same fate as Autor and had slipped on Uzura’s ice cream cone.  “Uh-oh-zura…” The little puppet whispered to herself once she realized she had caused the man’s accident.

The man in question heard the little puppet’s surprised gasp and stood up.  His height towered over the little girl like a giant, the man glared down at her menacingly.  “Was that your ice cream cone…?” the man’s deep baritone voice asked with hardly suppressed rage.

Uzura could only stare up at the giant man with amazement and nod her head stupidly.  She had never seen such a big man before.

The man practically exploded after the puppets confirmation.  “The **hell** is your problem you little brat?!!!” he screamed with unrelenting fury at Uzura, while pointing a finger accusingly at her.  “Haven’t your parents taught you how to clean up after your **_own damn messes_** _?!!!_ **I paid a ton of money for that ice cream and now it’s all gone to waste**!!!!!”

The man’s outcry had gained the complete attention of everyone that was in a five yard radius, including Fakir and Duck sitting at their table.  They had looked over towards the corner of the building when they heard the bear-like man crashing to the ground and were now witnessing the man taking his anger out on their little puppet friend.

“Oh no!  Uzura!” Duck cried out and almost jumped out of her chair to run to the puppet’s side.  She was stopped by Fakir’s hand on her shoulder, though.

“Sit down, Duck.  I’ll handle this,” The knight growled with angered determination.  Who did that man think he was by yelling at Uzura like that?!  Fakir pushed back his chair angrily and marched over to the gigantic, imposing man.

Duck sat back down in worry as she watched her knight go to the little puppet’s rescue.  She hoped the angered man wouldn’t get violent.

Uzura was still staring up at the ferociously angry man, who looked like he was about to ring her neck, with frightened tears in her eyes.  She was about to run away as fast as she possibly could when she felt a gentle hand placed on her head.  The little puppet looked up in surprise to see Fakir glaring dangerously into the bear-man’s eyes.

“Go back to Duck, Uzura.  I’ll handle it from here,” The knight growled with a threatening air, making no room for arguments (though Uzura certainly wasn’t going to complain), his eyes never leaving the dangerous man in front of him for a second.

At the knight’s words, Uzura ran as fast as she could towards Duck’s table.  The duck-girl was waiting for her with open arms as she jumped from her chair and hugged Uzura for dear life.  Duck had really thought that the man would hurt her little puppet.

“Oh, Uzura!” Duck exclaimed in worry.  “I was so worried about you!” 

“I’m alright-zura!” Uzura piped up with a smile on her face.  “Fakir came to save me-zura!”

Now that she wasn’t worried anymore over the puppet’s safety, the duck placed Uzura back on the ground and gave her a very motherly-stern glare. “That may be, but did you actually drop that ice cream cone, Uzura?”

The puppet fidgeted with slight guilt.  “Yeah-zura…” She mumbled defensively.  She only felt slight guilt for dropping the ice cream cone because it was for a really good cause.  She dropped it to make sure Fakir and Duck wouldn’t be disturbed.  So much for that!

Duck sighed in exasperation at the puppet’s lack of guilt.  “I swear…you stole my ice cream from me and then you just go and drop it?   I thought you’d take better care of it than that!”  The duck stated in disappointment. 

 Uzura bowed her head in shame at her sister’s disappointment in her until another idea popped into her head.  “Well, it didn’t all go to waste-zura!” Uzura exclaimed trying to bring an optimistic turn to the conversation.  “Duck still got to eat ice cream, ‘cuz Fakir decided to share his-zura!”

Duck blushed from the abrupt conversation change as it focused on the knight.  “W-well…yeah…I guess,” she stuttered nervously, remembering the interaction between her and Fakir.

Uzura nodded her head encouragingly.  “Yeah-zura!  It was a _very_ nice thing for him to do, wasn’t-zura?!”  She stated, putting a big emphasis on ‘very’.  “You should thank him-zura!”

“B-but I already did thank him!” Duck protested.  “I said ‘thank you’ when he said we could share…”

“I didn’t mean for just the ice cream-zura!” Uzura commented in exasperation from Duck not following her train of thoughts.  “You should thank Fakir for everything he’s done for you-zura!”

Duck blushed again at Uzura’s comment.  “Well, I have thanked him for many things like turning me back into a girl and for staying with me when I was a duck...”

“But you only said ‘thank you’-zura!” Uzura interrupted Duck again.  “Fakir deserves more than a ‘thank you’-zura!”

Duck was beginning to wonder how they had gotten on this topic of conversation in the first place.  The red-headed girl had already proclaimed her thanks to the knight, but that was only with words and a small hug here and there.  She had always felt that her words hadn’t adequately described her thankfulness, but what else could she do to show Fakir that she was truly thankful for everything he did for her?  “I suppose you’re right, Uzura, but…what can I do to truly show my thanks?” Duck asked with complete sincerity. 

Uzura jumped at the opportunity to put her new plan into action.  “You should give him a kiss-zura!!!” She exclaimed, her eyes shining and her fists clenching in determination.

The little puppet’s suggestion surprised Duck so much that the girl gave a very audibly “ **Quack**!” and fell onto her butt in shock.  “K-k-k-k-k-kiss...him…?!” She squeaked out with complete embarrassment, her face turning redder then the setting sun as she tried to take in what Uzura had said.  Once the suggestion had finally settled in, the poor little duck was then bombarded with very vivid images of her and the knight from every corner of her mind.  The duck was so flustered by the images that she started shaking her head frantically, trying to clear her thoughts away while complete gibberish flew out of her mouth a mile a minute.   

Uzura watched Duck hyperventilate before her with slight amusement.  “Yes-zura!” She nodded with great confidence.  “I bet Fakir would really like that-zura!”

It took awhile for Duck to compose herself again, and when she did, she jumped to her feat in desperation.  “I-I-I couldn’t d-do that, Uzura!!” Duck protested while waving her arms back and forth in front of her.  “It’s just too embarrassing!  I can’t just randomly walk up to him and…and…” She couldn’t bring herself to even finish the sentence.  The thought of it made her legs feel like jelly and butterflies start to dance in her stomach.

Uzura almost sighed in annoyance… _almost._   She should have known that her great idea would be met with resistance, since Duck was still oblivious towards Fakir’s feelings.  Maybe she should suggest her idea a little differently?  At that moment, Uzura was very glad that Charon had read all those romantic fairy-tale books to her, because another idea came to her mind.  All she had to do now was play it out.  “You don’t have to kiss-kiss him-zura…”Uzura suggested when Duck had calmed down enough to listen.  “You can kiss him on the cheek instead-zura!  Charon said that’s how some people show their thanks-zura!”

Duck showed great uncertainty at the new prospect.  “Um…I’m not sure, Uzura…” She stated, just as nervous about this suggestion as she was towards the first.  The duck-girl started to think that Uzura didn’t understand just how serious her suggestions were.  Nor was she thinking about how Fakir would react to the situation if it actually presented itself!  That’s what worried Duck the most.  If she did what Uzura was implying, even if it was on the cheek, that Fakir would distance himself from her, reject her, or their friendship would be destroyed.  Duck almost cried at the thought.

“Duck-zura?” Uzura asked tentatively.  She was beginning to worry over the duck-girl’s reaction, because her eyes looked so sad.

Duck broke out of her reverie at the sound of her name.  She saw Uzura looking at her with worry and decided to at least play along.  “Um…I’ll think about it, Uzura,” she stated quietly, hoping that if she said that, that Uzura would drop the conversation. 

Uzura giggled in delight at Duck’s reply (she didn’t catch on that Duck wasn’t going to go through with it anyway).  “Okie-dokey-zura!!!” She exclaimed while banging her drum in celebration.  Sadly, Uzura’s celebration was cut short again by a very angry bear-like man.

“ **What do you mean we’re even**?!!!” The gigantic man bellowed, his face turning red like an angry demon’s and causing the ice cream still on his face to slightly melt.

Duck and Uzura jumped in fright at the man’s loud voice.  They had almost forgotten about him!  The girl’s quickly glanced towards the scene a few feet away from them where the angry man and Fakir still ‘conversed’.  Duck was very relieved to see that Fakir was still standing his ground and that he didn’t appear to be hurt.

The knight in question snorted in disgust up at the angered behemoth before him, not fazed in the slightest that the guy was twice as tall as him and had three times the muscle mass.  “Weren’t you listening?  I said that since I don’t have any money on me at the moment that I couldn’t repay you for your food.  But since it was an ice cream cone that I had paid for, we both lost our money’s worth today and that makes us even,” he explained again slowly, like he was talking to a two year old, and giving the man his most irritated glare.

“ **No, we are certainly not even**!!!” The bear-like man screamed in fury, while spittle flew from his mouth.  He roughly jabbed his finger into Fakir’s chest in anger as he continued.  “ **How can you say we’re even when I lost more money than you and I’m covered in frickin’ ice cream**?!!!!”

Fakir glowered dangerously at the man for the rough jab to his chest.  “I believe we’re _more_ than even because I had the misfortune of talking to a complete _dumb-ass_ like you!” he replied scathingly while glaring at the man with complete disgust. 

The bear-like man was so enraged at the comment that he couldn’t even find the words for a proper comeback.  His whole body seemed to glow with a reddish hue as he clenched his fists to his sides and glared down at the knight.  The man was the breathing embodiment of ‘If-looks-could-kill’.

Now, naturally, Fakir should have started to fear for his very life, but the boy just huffed with indifference and walked away from the ticking time bomb. He obviously thought he had won the argument as he made his way over to a very worried Duck and Uzura.  “Come on.  We’re going,” he stated as he walked by them, picked up Uzura’s story, which was lying on the table next to his half-eaten sundae, and walked off towards home. 

Duck and Uzura glanced back towards the bear-like man to make sure he wasn’t on a murderous rampage, before catching up with Fakir.

\--------

If Duck was an anime character (and she really was) then she would have had a big sweat drop on her forehead right about now.  She glanced over towards Fakir and Uzura, who were currently walking home with her, to see them squabbling over the ice cream incident that happened a moment ago.  They had been doing that the _whole_ time. 

“I don’t care if you did it on purpose or not, Uzura!  You should have apologized to the guy, at least!” Fakir yelled down at the little puppet.  He had been in a foul mood ever since his confrontation with the big, angry man.

“But I had to drop the ice cream cone-zura!  It was for a very important cause-zura!” Uzura pleaded with the knight, trying to make him see reason.

Fakir massaged his temples with his free hand, since Uzura’s story was in the other.  He definitely felt a headache coming on.  “And what exactly was that important cause?”  The knight growled in exasperation.  “Was it to anger a man that could squish you between his fingers if you pissed him off?!”  Fakir yelled in worry.  He was certain that if he hadn’t interrupted the bear-like man, Uzura would have become little wooden splinters in a matter of seconds.  And just after he had finished a story over her mortality for crying out loud!

“No, it wasn’t to make that big guy angry-zura!” Uzura explained with slight indignation at the knight’s behavior.  Instead of yelling at her, he should have been thanking her!  “I dropped the ice cream to make The Meany Glasses Guy slip, so that he wouldn’t interrupt your date-zura!”

“I don’t care about that!” Fakir snapped at the little girl, tired of her trying to make excuses for her wrong doings.  “I still think you should….wait… **my what**?!!!”  He exclaimed in shock after fully processing what Uzura had said.  Duck quacked in surprise as well at hearing the little puppet’s proclamation.

“Your date with Duck-zura!” Uzura explained to the knight like he was stupid.  “That Meany Glasses Guy was going to interrupt you.  So that’s why I made him slip and threw ice cream in his face-zura!!!”

Fakir and Duck stared at the puppet in disbelief, slight blushes covering their faces.  “That…that wasn’t a date!!!!” They exclaimed in unison, causing both of them to blush harder.

“Sure it was-zura,” Uzura explained knowledgeably. “You two were sitting at a table by yourselves and sharing ice cream-zura!  That makes it a date-zura!”

“B-but…” Duck began to stutter nervously, a blush still on her face.  “That doesn’t make it a date, Uzura.  You were there before hand, so Fakir and I didn’t plan on sitting alone together…”

“But I _left_ -zura!” Uzura exclaimed with emphasis.  “That would still make it a date-zura!”

“No, it doesn’t,” Fakir sighed at the innocent puppet’s counter argument.  “Just because you stole Duck’s ice cream and ran away from the table doesn’t make it a date.  It makes it more of a setup than anything else!”

Uzura crossed her arms in thought.  Maybe Fakir had a point there.  She had only set them up.  In order for it to be a date, they would have had to agree to it beforehand.  That’s what some of her story books had implied anyway. 

The puppet glanced up then to see that Charon’s old house was just a few feet away.  The little girl’s face became a one of shock.  They were almost home!  She couldn’t let the night end like this!  Not when she had worked so hard to make Duck and Fakir convey their feelings to each other!  Uzura thought in desperation then, thinking of a way to turn her previous conversation around to get the oblivious couple to talk.  As an idea struck her, she ran in front of her siblings and stood before the door to the house, refusing the couple entry until they heard her out.  “So it wasn’t really a date, but that doesn’t mean you can’t make it one-zura!”

Duck and Fakir stopped before the puppet, staring at her quizzically.  What was Uzura getting at?  “What are you talking about, Uzura?” Fakir asked with slight hesitance.  He wasn’t really sure if he wanted to know the answer.

“To make the date official, Fakir has to give Duck a kiss-zura!!” The little puppet exclaimed with triumph.  _“Let’s see them get out of this one-zura!!!”_

Fakir wasn’t expecting that answer in the least.  His face had turned as red as a ripe tomato, and his mouth was flopping around like a fish out of water.  “ **What**?!”  The knight exclaimed once he had gained the power of speech again.  “I…I couldn’t…I couldn’t do that!”

“Why not-zura?” Uzura asked innocently.  “You almost did it before, didn’t you-zura?”

Fakir was shocked into silence again as the memory of Duck and his ‘almost kiss’ after the reading of Uzura’s story came to his mind.  The boy was blushing so much, he wouldn’t have been surprised if steam was billowing out of his ears. A swift glance at Duck also confirmed to the knight that she was in a similar situation.  She looked like she was about ready to faint from all the blood flowing to her head. 

“T-t-that was d-different!” The knight stuttered out lamely, trying to come up with a way out of this situation.  The young man wracked his brain for an excuse.  Any excuse! “I can’t just go up to her and randomly kiss her!  I’d be forcing her into a situation she didn’t want!” The knight unknowingly repeated what Duck had told Uzura earlier.  He didn’t want to force anything on to Duck, especially if it would lead to her probably rejecting him and throwing their friendship away! 

“Who said she didn’t want you to-zura?” Uzura said with knowing smile.    

Fakir stood in stunned silence at the puppet’s statement.  Was Uzura telling him the truth?  Duck hadn’t protested to Uzura’s suggestion; he had only assumed what she thought.  The knight glanced quickly towards the aforementioned duck, his eyes imploring her to confirm or disconfirm what the puppet had said.

Duck was feeling very light-headed by now as the blush was glowing off of her face like a beacon.  Having the knight’s eyes on her wasn’t helping either!  She didn’t know how to respond to Uzura’s statement or Fakir’s silent one.  Was Fakir bothered by the thought of kissing her or was she just pushing him away? She couldn’t answer that question either! Duck began to stutter incomprehensively for a little bit as she tried to form a coherent sentence.  “I…uh…” She replied with choked hesitance.  She was starting to panic as her eyes searched for a distraction around her to avoid the question at hand.  Immediately, her eyes fell onto Uzura’s story that Fakir was still holding in one of his hands.  As quick as a flash of lightning, Duck tore the papers from a very surprised Fakir’s hands, practically giving him a paper cut in the process, and handed them over to Uzura.  “Here you go, Uzura!” Duck spoke nonchalantly like she hadn’t just completely avoided a question revolving around her romantic feelings.  “How about you go and put that somewhere safe until Fakir gives it to his publisher later,”  she ended with the biggest fake smile she had ever produced in her life as she started pushing the little puppet towards the door.

Uzura stared up at the nervous duck with slight annoyance.  _“She just avoided telling Fakir her lovey-dovey feelings-zura!!!!”_ She cursed within, feeling her matchmaking plan’s crumble beneath her.  No!  She wouldn’t let that happen!  There was still another plan!  Before Duck could push Uzura through the now open door-way, the little puppet spoke up at Duck.  “Ok-zura,” she said, finally agreeing to put the story away.  “But don’t forget what we talked about earlier-zura.”  And with that, Uzura walked the rest of the way to the door all by herself to put her story away.

Duck flinched at the memory of the conversation she had had earlier with the puppet.  She had told Uzura she would think about ‘thanking’ Fakir, but she hadn’t meant to go through with it at all! 

By this time, Fakir had gained control over his blush and was now looking at Duck curiously.  “Mind explaining to me what Uzura was talking about?”  He asked, referring to the puppet and ducks’ interaction.

Duck nervously looked away from the questioning knight.  What was she suppose to do now?  Should she just tell him about her conversation with Uzura?  The thought slightly frightened her.  “Oh…you know…” Duck said, trying to act like the conversation had been no big deal.  “We just…talked about girl stuff!”

Fakir narrowed his eyes in disbelief.  “You’re a bad liar, you know,” he stated calmly when he noticed the duck’s acting coming on a bit strong.  “Was it really that bad?  The conversation, I mean.”

Duck hesitated again.  There was no way out of it now.  Fakir knew she was hiding something that bothered her and he would do everything in his power to get her to talk about it.  “She talked with me about thanking you,” Duck stated quietly, opening up the conversation that she was slightly afraid of.

Fakir stared at Duck in confusion.  “Thanking me?  What for?” He inquired.  Why would Duck have to thank him?

“Um…” Duck hesitated, biting her lip.  “For everything you’ve done for me over the years.”  Duck notice that Fakir still looked confused, so she explained more.  “You stayed by my side when I was a duck…”  She started off, smiling softly at the memory.  “You turned me back into a girl…You continued to stay by my side as my friend, helping me with everything I needed help on...” Duck continued, becoming more confident as the memories gave her a newfound strength she didn’t know she had.  She looked directly into Fakir’s eyes with gratitude.  “You comforted me when I was sad, and you gave me a place to stay when I had nowhere else to go…”

“Duck…” Fakir interrupted the young girl’s speech.  “There’s no need to thank me for any of those reasons because you already have,” he stated matter-of-factly.

“No…I haven’t.” Duck whispered mostly to herself.  Maybe Uzura was right.  Maybe she should consider a different way to thank the knight for all he did for her.  “I haven’t thanked you enough, Fakir.”

The knight was very confused now.  “What do you mean?”  He questioned with mild curiosity.

Duck stared directly into Fakir’s eyes with determination.  There was no going back now.  She was going to see this through, not because Uzura wanted her to, but because _she_ wanted to.   “I’ve only conveyed my thanks to you in words, Fakir.  And sadly, my words didn’t show my gratitude justice.  Uzura told me that I should show my thanks to you in a different way; a way that could effectively convey my true feelings…I’m starting to think that she was right.”  Duck smiled at Fakir fondly, her eyes full of compassion. 

Fakir stood utterly speechless.  He became lost within Duck’s compassionate eyes as she started walking closer to him.  “Duck…?”  He questioned softly, wondering what the girl was up to. 

She stood in front of him now in determination, preparing herself for what she was about to do.  A peck on the cheek wasn’t so bad, right?  Besides, she wanted to do this.  Fakir would understand this was just her way of effectively saying thank you. 

Unbeknownst to the distracted couple, Uzura had been watching from behind the open door frame.  The puppet giggled to herself in excitement as she saw Duck heeding her advice and starting to stand on her tippy toes to reach the knight’s cheek.  _“Now for the grand finale-zura!”_  She mentally exclaimed with gusto as she ran up to the unsuspecting couple.

Luckily for the little puppet, her two victims were too distracted (Duck concentrating on reaching up and pecking Fakir on the cheek, and Fakir too shocked with embarrassment at figuring out what the girl was actually up to) to notice her reach Duck’s side.  With giddy excitement and a vocalization of, “Bump-zura!”, Uzura bumped her side gently into Duck’s legs, causing the duck to slightly lose balance and miss her target completely.  Instead of meeting Fakir’s cheek, the bump had caused her to move slightly to the left and meet his lips instead.

Duck and Fakir’s eyes widened to epic proportions at the surprisingly sudden contact.  In a split second, the kiss ended as soon as it began; Duck jumped away from the very startled knight, holding her hands to her lips in disbelief, while Fakir stood frozen to the spot in complete and utter shock.  _“Did that just happen?”_ They both thought as they stared towards each other in wonder.

A million thoughts rushed through Fakir’s head as he gazed into Duck’s eyes.  What was she thinking now?  Was it all just an accident?  He flinched at the thought.  He didn’t want it to be an accident. He wanted…he wanted…

 _“What do I want?”_ Fakir thought to himself in frustration.  The answer came to him immediately as his eyes met Duck’s uncertain face.  ‘ _Her’…_ The answer was quiet obvious.  He had wanted her to know his true feelings for years.  She had changed him into a better person, and she had been there for him when he needed someone the most.  He had always loved her, but he was to afraid to ask her if she loved him back…

Duck watched as millions of emotions flitted through Fakir’s eyes.  He looked so uncertain and so sad that Duck just wanted to take all of his troubles away…but she was too afraid to move.  Was this his reaction to the accidental kiss?  Was he angry with her?  Duck almost cried at the thought.  She hadn’t planned on kissing him but... she didn’t regret it.  A part of her had wanted this for years, but she had been so afraid of what his reaction would be.  Would he reject her? She had loved him for so long now that the thought of his rejection was almost unbearable, but all she could do now was wait and see how Fakir would truly react.

By this time, Fakir was having a full blown fight in his head.  The knight clenched his fists tightly in agitation.  He wanted to confess everything to Duck, but he was still afraid of what her reaction would be.  What should he do?! 

 _“Don’t be afraid, Fakir…”_ A voice spoke from deep within the troubled knight’s consciousness, startling the boy from his thoughts.

Fakir stiffened at the new voice.  It sounded so familiar…it couldn’t be… _“Charon?”_ he mentally asked the voice in shock.

The voice continued to speak like the knight hadn’t asked it a question.  _“_ _You’ve waited so long.  Just follow what’s in your heart.”_ It stated while starting to fade away.  _“She’s been waiting for you, too.”_ And just as quickly as the voice came to him, it vanished back from where it originated.

Fakir was stunned by the whole scenario that had just played out.  He was so certain that was Charon’s voice he had just heard!  But was the voice really his father’s or was it from deep within his own subconscious, finally voicing its opinion?  Did he just imagine it all?!   The knight shook his head to clear his thoughts.  It didn’t matter what that voice was. What truly mattered was if the voice was telling him the truth.  Had Duck been waiting for him all this time?  His doubts seemed to be answered as he glimpsed at Duck’s uncertain and hurt filled eyes.  With newfound determination, Fakir decided to heed what the voice had said.  He couldn’t take waiting any longer anyway….

“Duck…?”  He asked tentatively, staring deeply into her eyes with great determination and compassion.

Duck was completely overwhelmed by all the emotions she saw within the knight’s eyes as he said her name.  Something had changed, but she didn’t know what exactly.  All she could do now was ask.  “What?” She asked quietly, her eyes swimming with wonder.  “What is—” but she never got to finish her sentence, because Fakir grabbed her shoulders and brought her into a mind-bendingly passionate kiss.

Duck stiffened in surprise at the abrupt contact, but once she realized what was going on, she couldn’t help but smile.  With giddy excitement she reciprocated her knight’s feelings by wrapping her arms around his neck and kissed him back just as passionately. 

A short distance away, Uzura squealed in delight at the couple’s actions.  “Finally-zura!”  She exclaimed with accomplishment and relief as Fakir and Duck became lost in their own little world.  Seeing that her work was done, Uzura headed towards the house again with a huge smile on her face, beating her drum to a little song.  “Lovey-dovey-dovey-zura!” She sang over and over again with great enthusiasm for anyone who wanted to hear.

For a duck and her knight, they never heard a more beautiful song.


End file.
